Slayers: Gods' Blood
by Patches
Summary: Thus, the Slayers releasethed a god. And in gratitude for their most heroic achievement, the god spaketh unto them: Bite me. And the world was screwed.
1. Not Again! Another Mazoku Destroys Sair...

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 1  
Not Again! Another Mazoku Destroys Sairaag**

* * *

Boom.

For any bandit who has had an experience with her, that's about all they remember of Lina Inverse. One moment, they're minding their own business; the next, their camp is a smoldering heap of wood and cloth, and the treasury is a few thousand gold pieces lighter. Today was no exception.

Lina proudly admired her handiwork as she rummaged through what was left of the camp, looking for any sort of interesting trinket the bandit gang might have acquired. Stealing from thieves was no big deal to her, as "villains have no rights" was her motto. And boy, did she enforce it.

She held up a jewel-encrusted hairpin to the firelight for a better examination. "This one would probably sell for about 30 gold. 40 if I found the right person," she mused to herself. She shrugged and put it in her pouch. The next thing she came across was an old manuscript. She started, thinking briefly that it could possibly be an old tome of magic spells. To her dismay, it was only the first few pages of an unfinished bard's tale. "'The kid did too much of braggin', so was finally eaten by a dragon,'" she read part of it aloud. "Sheesh, no wonder they never finished it. This is awful." She tossed it aside and browsed around for something more interesting.

A blonde man poked his head around the corner. "Ne, Lina, are you done yet?" he asked. "I'm getting hungry, and these bandits you always slap around never have any food."

"In a minute, Gourry," Lina said, busily rummaging through more loot. "You probably want something to pay for your dinner with, and that's what I'm doing here." The next object she uncovered was a small statuette of a cat crafted from solid gold with two small emeralds for eyes. "Ooh, this'll fetch a nice price!" she exclaimed simply for the sake of saying it.

"I think you have enough to buy five or six meals," Gourry commented.

"So?" said Lina. "A girl's gotta keep a little something for herself, you know," she said, giving him an innocent, childish grin.

By the time the two finally emerged from the skeletal remains of the smoldering camp, Lina was carrying enough to fill a king's treasury. "I guess I have enough for now," she commented. "So, where's the closest town? I'm starved!"

Gourry scratched his head. "I think Sairaag is down the road a couple miles. We could be there in a few hours."

"Great!" said Lina, starting down the road. "All this bandit-killing really works up an appetite! And I could use a good bed to sleep in tonight. Let's just hope it isn't being destroyed again by another wacko Mazoku."

Of course, Lina had yet to learn that the phrase she just uttered was along the same lines as "what could possibly go wrong?" or "things couldn't possibly get worse", and such things should not be said out loud, for they always bring disaster.

* * *

However, it appeared that whatever entity that causes said disasters to happen wasn't paying any attention, because Sairaag was still in one piece and going about business as usual.

Lina and Gourry wasted no time in finding a restaurant and ordering triple portions of half the items on the menu. And they wasted even less time in polishing their meal off.

"Ahh," said Lina, patting her stomach. "That should hold me for a few hours." She burped rather un-ladylike.

"Ne, Lina, I always wondered how someone who eats as much as you can manage to stay so scrawny," Gourry observed. Wham. Gourry's face was immediately planted in the plate in front of him, with a rather large bump on his head accompanying it.

While our two heroes finished dinner, it appears that our aforementioned entity _was_ in fact paying attention, but simply had a delayed reaction. So, it saw to it that chaos ensued.

* * *

It didn't start as much. Just a fireball falling from the sky and taking out a half city block. In battles that eventually concern Lina Inverse, that was merely a shot to get attention.

However, Lina was too busy reading the dessert menu to notice. She finally pointed to her selection. "I think I'll have five servings of fried ice cream." Before the waitress could even write down her order, the restaurant exploded as another fireball landed nearby. "I said fried, not grilled!" Lina shouted through the smoke. It took her a moment to notice that the place was completely destroyed, drowning all hopes that she'd get her ice cream.

She stood rather slowly, a growl building in her throat. "Whoever did this is going to be VERY sorry they made me miss dessert. Come on, Gourry!" Gourry shrugged and picked his way through the rubble, while Lina simply Raywinged away in search of the culprit.

It didn't take her too long to find him. Since the attack had come from the air, Lina had ruled out anyone on the ground. And since there was currently only one other person in the air besides herself, and that person was currently chucking fireballs every which way at the city, he was the lucky candidate. So, Lina decided to question him.

Her first question was in the form of a kick to the back of the head that sent the culprit reeling. It didn't take him long to reorient himself, and he turned to Lina with a growl. "Can't you see I'm a little busy?"

He looked like your average lower Mazoku. Of course, Mazoku come in all shapes and forms, so "average" was simply a relative term. He looked like a cross between a human and a cougar, with disheveled, sandy colored hair. His limbs were rather long and gangly in proportion to his body, and his hands and feet ended in what looked like dragon claws. He had a pair of black, bat-like wings sprouting from his back, but they weren't the force keeping him aloft at that point, so they simply hung folded behind his back. He wore a dirtied green shirt and matching pants. All in all, he looked like something you'd pull out of a garbage heap, Lina mused.

"Hmph, you're sure one to talk," Lina retorted, ruffling her fiery orange hair. "It just so happens that the people down there don't really appreciate what you're doing. Through the years, they've gotten bombed by more monsters than I can count. You're just making life tough on them again, interfering with their peace, AND," she emphasized, pointing a finger at him, "you interrupted my dinner, which is entirely unforgivable."

The Mazoku sweatdropped. "_That's_ what you came up here to yap at me about?" He scratched his head in confusion. "You humans are weird." He readied another fireball. "No matter. If you leave me alone and let me finish this, I'll find you some food. How's that sound?" Another kick to the head was Lina's reply.

The Mazoku rubbed his head in annoyance. He threw a fireball at her, which she easily dodged. "Get out of here, you flat-chested little girl."

Ohhhhhhhh dear.

The Mazoku looked around him, and found no sign of the annoying little orange-haired kid. Smiling in satisfaction, he looked back to the ground to pick his next target.

And then realized that the ground was an awful lot closer than he remembered it. So close in fact, that his face was firmly planted in it, and he had acquired another sore spot on the back of his head. He lifted his face from the dirt and looked up. His eyes met a pair of white boots, followed by a magenta bodysuit, a black cape, and finally the burning red eyes of the orange-haired girl.

Lina stuck her toe under his chin and lifted his head up a ways with her foot. "First you interfered with an innocent girl's dinner, and then you go around insulting her. People like you shouldn't be allowed to live. But since I'm in a forgiving mood, I'll just blast you to dust, rather than torture you to death."

The Mazoku tried to get up, but realized he had a sword to his back. This particular sword, however, gave off an unusual hum, and appeared to be made of a beam of light.

"Just give the word, and I'll chop him in half," Gourry offered.

"No way!" Lina said. "This guy is _mine!_"

"As much as I'd love to sit here and listen to your threats, I really have things to do," the Mazoku interjected. With that he spread his wings and knocked Lina and Gourry aside, then leapt out of the way before Gourry had the chance to swing at him. The Mazoku took to the air again, and Gourry pursued. Lina, however, was, well...

"Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows. Buried in the flow of time," she chanted.

The Mazoku had re-positioned himself in the air and appeared to be charging up another fireball.

"...In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness. Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess!" Lina looked to the sky at her target, who was just about to launch his own spell. "DRAGON SLAVE!!" she shouted, letting loose an immense stream of energy that rocketed skyward.

Strange, Gourry thought. He could swear he heard the Mazoku shout exactly the same thing, and looked up to see that the creature had let loose a similar beam of energy on a collision course with Lina's.

This can't be good.

The two Dragon Slaves met in mid-air, about a hundred feet above the city. The resulting explosion could be heard from Seyruun, felt from Zephilia, and probably seen from outer space. And, once again, Sairaag was blown sky high.

* * *

Lina pulled herself partway out from under a collapsed wall, only to be met face-to-face with the smirking cat Mazoku.

"Most impressive," he commented. "I was unprepared for a child such as yourself having the ability to pull off a spell like that." Lina wanted to get her hands on him so badly, but she was still pinned under the wall.

"Still," he added. "A walking bundle of destruction such as yourself just makes my job easier. What was your name again? Inverse, was it?" Lina gave no response. "Ah, no matter. My work here is done, and I thank you for your help. Until we meet again, Ms. Inverse." With that, he saluted and teleported away, leaving Lina nothing but the ruins of Sairaag to look at.

Lina snarled. "That Mazoku is dead meat," she vowed.


	2. All Work and no Pay! Will it Ever End?

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 2  
All Work and no Pay! Will it Ever End?**

* * *

Since she was in part responsible for the latest destruction of Sairaag, Lina was instructed to stay there for three weeks to help with the preliminary rebuilding. Needless to say, she wasn't too thrilled. Three weeks without travelling, bandit hunting, or blowing things up. She didn't know if she'd survive.

Gourry, on the other hand, was all too happy to help. He happily donned a pair of old blue overalls and a hard hat. Lina preferred to stay in her usual garb, minus the cape. However, working hard in that outfit made her extremely hot. So, when she saw a girl carrying around cool drinks for the workers, she immediately pounced on her. And then realized who the drink girl was.

"Sylphiel?" Lina asked, hardly believing that a shrine maiden was out serving drinks.

"Lina-san?" Sylphiel nearly dropped her tray. "What brings you here? I'm glad to see you've decided to help us rebuild."

Lina scratched her chin nervously. "Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't really have much choice...."

Suddenly, Gourry shouted down from the top of a ladder. "Hi, Sylphiel! Haven't seen you in a while!" He waved, but lost his grip on the ladder and came crashing down to the street.

"Gourry-sama!" Sylphiel ran to him. But Gourry's head was as dense as a brick. It would take more than that to hurt him. "Oh, Gourry! Did you come to aid us in rebuilding after that Mazoku attack?"

Gourry smiled cheerfully. "Actually, Lina was the one who blew up the city, so the officials are making her stay and help out." A piece of wood smartly connected with his head.

"Don't go around saying it was _my_ fault, Jellyfish-brain!" Lina shouted. "It was that @%&! Mazoku's fault for countering my spell!" She then began uttering a string of curses about the Mazoku's intelligence level, choice of diversions, and questionable parentage.

"Ne, Lina, don't you think that's enough?" said Gourry, attempting to calm the savage beast.

The foreman then came around to inspect people's progress. He noticed that Lina and Gourry weren't doing anything. "You two! Get back to work!" he commanded. The foreman was a huge man that looked like someone from a wrestling tournament. Definitely someone you didn't want to say "no" to.

"Y...yes sir!" Lina and Gourry said in unison, and immediately got back to work.

* * *

After two weeks, neighboring towns and kingdoms had heard of Sairaag's predicament, so sent in relief squads. Lina was glad for them, because more people working meant less work for her. Lina was glad, that is, until the Seyruun relief squad showed up.

"Have no fear, citizens of Sairaag! Your liberation is upon you!" echoed a voice through the city.

Lina immediately dropped her hammer. "Oh no.... That isn't....!"

"The Seyruun Relief Squad of Justice has come to aid you in your darkest hour! Even though villains may smash your town, we will stand before them and rebuild what they have destroyed! Those who wish destruction will see the error of their ways and be punished by the swift hammer of justice!"

Lina ducked for cover behind a pile of wood. Heaven help her if Amelia saw her here. She had enough problems already. Amelia led the Seyruun Relief Squad of Justice through the streets, sending workers off to places that needed extra assistance. If Lina just stayed behind the pile of wood, Amelia would never....

"Hey, you! Trying to hide from your job, missy?" Lina was greeted by the scary face of the foreman. She cowered behind the wood, not wanting to make a spectacle of herself now. "Hey, you listening to me? I said GET TO WORK!" With that the foreman tossed her into the street...

...And right into Amelia. Both sorceress and princess went tumbling, and ended in a heap on the other side of the road. Amelia shook her head to reorient herself, and noticed Lina trying to discreetly sneak away. Too late. She was spotted.

"Lina-saaaaan!" Amelia cheered as she latched onto her former idol's leg. "It's been soooo long!"

"Oh, hi Amelia....!" Lina laughed nervously. "I, uh, wasn't expecting to run into you...."

Amelia's eyes got all shiny. "Oh, Lina-san! Is it possible that you have finally discovered the way of justice, and came to this city's aid after it was destroyed and cried out for help?"

"No!" Lina shouted. "And before anyone else asks, I blew up the city while fighting a monster and this is my punishment for it! OKAY?!"

Amelia's expression wavered. "Lina-san...." Then she smiled. "You haven't changed a bit!"

"Yeah, whatever," said Lina, picking up a hammer. "I just want this to be over with so I can get on with my life."

* * *

Meanwhile, a dark cloaked figure was making his way toward Sairaag. He had been there before, but didn't have much time to look around then, even though it seemed a promising place to find a cure for his curse. Sairaag held many ancient magic laboratories and knowledge of ancient magical power. In the past, it had been known as the Magical City. So, what better place to look for a spell? And since he was alone and not a wanted criminal, now was the best time to check things out.

As Zelgadis reached the crest of the hill, the first thing that greeted his eyes was a crater containing the remains of the completely destroyed Sairaag.

"Damn."

Scratch one place to look for a cure. He turned to leave, but stopped. "On second thought, why do I have this nagging feeling that Lina had something to do with this?"

* * *

Zelgadis walked into town; his hood pulled over his head and his mask over his face. Thankfully, his appearance did little to attract attention, as other people were also wearing masks to prevent the inhalation of sawdust. Although the city had been completely destroyed, there was still an inside chance that he might find something worthwhile here. Besides, from what he had observed of the damage to the city, he was curious as to what exactly happened. Judging by the depth of the crater, whatever spell that was used was not used at ground level. But why would someone detonate a spell in mid-air....?

Zel's train of thought was interrupted by a rough hand on his shoulder. Looking up, his eyes met those of a very tall, very muscular, very scary person.

"So, I guess you think you're better than the rest of us by not having to work, huh?" The foreman grunted.

"Well, uh, actually, I...." Zel stammered.

"Don't get funny on me! I don't need your excuses, buddy!" the foreman roared. "Be a man and put some of that muscle to work! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Y...yes," Zel replied meekly. Although he was made of stone, he figured that this guy could probably crush him with his bare hands. Better not argue. The foreman thrust Zelgadis over to a heap of wood and shoved a hammer into his hand. Zel quickly began pounding nails as the foreman glared over his shoulder. After a while, the foreman seemed satisfied and left. Zel slowed his pace and breathed a sigh of relief. He did not want to meet that guy in a dark alley.

Zelgadis reached over to pick up another piece of wood. Instead, he grabbed the hand that was already holding that particular piece of wood.

"Hey, do you mind?" shot the owner of the hand.

"Sorry," Zel quickly said, releasing his grip. He looked up to see that the owner of the hand was a small, sweaty girl with fiery orange hair. "Lina?" he gasped.

"Zel?" Lina said, equally astonished. She waved her hand in confusion. "Whoa, wait a minute. The day _you_ volunteer for charity work is the day the world ends. So, let me guess. The foreman found you wandering around and made you come work, right?"

Zel nodded. "And I'm assuming you caused this mess, so you're being forced to work here as punishment."

Lina clutched the piece of wood. "Thank L-sama someone finally figured that out on their own. It's embarrassing enough having to tell people that."

"I figured as much," said Zel. "You're hardly the charitable type." Whap. Lina brought the board down on Zel's head.

"I'm cranky enough about this whole mess as it is. Don't push your luck," she warned him.

"I understand," came Zel's muffled voice from under the board.

Lina half-heartedly pounded a nail with her hammer. "This is getting so boring," she sighed. "I wish something would happen to get me out of this."

Ah, and this time the entity heard Lina's remark, and was all too happy to oblige. It was getting pretty bored just watching Lina hammer away the past two weeks, and probably would have done something on its own eventually, anyway.

Sylphiel came running up the street. "Lina-san! Lina-san! We need you!"

Lina immediately jumped to her feet. "The Mazoku's back! Great! Don't worry, Sylphiel, he's dust this time!"

"Um, there's no Mazoku, Lina," Sylphiel replied.

"Okay, then. Dragon. Where's the dragon? He's gonna be sorry he ever messed with me!"

"There's no dragon."

"Bandits, then, right? Ohh, they're not gonna leave this town with a single copper piece!" Lina rolled up her sleeve in anticipation.

"No, Lina-san, it's not bandits. It's..."

"A troll maybe?"

"No."

Lina scratched her head. "Timmy fell down the old well again?"

Sylphiel sighed. "No, Lina, it's nothing like that."

"Huh?" was all Lina could think of to say. "Then what do you need me for?"

Sylphiel pointed back up the street. "While we were clearing away rubble, we came across something you might be interested in. It looks like the entrance to an old magic laboratory."

That got Zel's attention. "A magic lab? Where?"

Sylphiel was quite surprised. "Oh, Zelgadis-san, you're here too! Please, come with me. I'll show you what we found."

The two followed Sylphiel, eager to get away from their mundane work. "Are Gourry and Amelia here as well?" Zelgadis asked.

"Yeah, but you know how those two are with helping people in need. We shouldn't bother them," said Lina. "Besides, what would they know about magic labs?"

The three came upon a cleared area in the middle of the city. Although the blast had taken about 50 feet of the depth of the ground with it, it was obvious that there had been quite a bit of digging done to reach what was assumed to be a laboratory. They floated down the hole that was dug, which went down another 20 feet. They landed on a hatch that would lead downwards even more. Lina brushed the dirt away to examine the emblem on the door. It was an eye, with a six-pointed star as the pupil.

"I've never seen this seal before," Lina commented. "Must have been some local sorcerer's signature." With that, she raised her hands and began chanting a spell to blow the door open. Before she could finish, though, Zel simply pulled the hatch open with little effort at all.

"Hey!" said Lina. "You take all the fun out of things! I haven't blown anything up in weeks!"

"And thus the world is a better place," said Zel, a split second before he realized that saying it was suicide.

Yup. The next thing he knew, he was on his head, halfway down the stairs into the lab.

"Hey, Zel! No fair getting ahead of me!" Lina shouted from the top of the stairs. She came bounding down, a Lighting spell in one hand, Sylphiel in the other. "I don't want you to spoil anything for me!"

The stairs went down forever. Lina was beginning to think that this lab was deeper than Rezo's, which she'd had the privilege of exploring years before. Besides that fact, the entrance to this particular lab was buried 70 feet underground. And yet..... there was no ward on the door. Whoever built it must've been pretty overconfident that no one would find it. Either that, or...

"You know, this has been too easy," Lina said. "That means it's probably a trap." The three froze and surveyed their surroundings. Stairs. That was about it. Nothing else spectacular. They continued a little ways more, and still nothing happened. "I said, this is probably a trap!" Lina shouted again, hearing her voice echo down the stairs. Still nothing happened. "Ohh, this is driving me nuts! Someone spring the trap already!"

Lina banged on every wall, and jumped on every stair. Nothing. She ran in circles, frustrated out of her mind, until she finally tripped and went tumbling down the stairs, only to smack into the door at the bottom. "I found a door..." she said groggily. Zelgadis and Sylphiel ran down to her.

Lina got up and rubbed her hands together. "Okay, I bet when we open this door, it'll probably set off a trap, so..." She got a mischievous gleam in her eye. "No choice but to blow it up!"

But before she could even start casting a spell, Zel walked over and pulled on the door. It opened without protest. And, again, nothing happened.

"What kind of crazy lab is this?" yelled Lina. "No seals! No traps! No mazes!"

"Which means there probably isn't anything worthwhile in here," Zelgadis observed.

A little lightbulb lit up over Lina's head. "Ah, maybe that's what they _want_ us to think! Maybe this lab was designed to be uneventful so that anyone sneaking in would think that it's worthless!" Highly improbable, but it was still worth a look.

The three went through the doors and found themselves in a small room. Lina let her Lighting spell float up to light the entire room, revealing that it indeed was the lowest (and only) chamber in the lab. And the chamber itself was no larger than a large bedroom. There were a few shelves with old books, some rusted and broken weapons, and a stone statue tucked in the corner.

Zelgadis immediately went for the books and began thumbing through them. Lina went to the old weapons, and Sylphiel examined the statue. After a moment's silence, the three announced their findings.

"These books are useless!" said Zelgadis. "They're not even spellbooks! Just some old novels and bards' tales."

Lina fingered the blade of one of the swords, and the metal crumbled in her hand. "There's no magic in any of these items whatsoever. They're just common weapons, and not very good ones at that."

Sylphiel was still examining the statue. "This statue is weird," she commented.

"How so?" ventured Zelgadis. "Is there a spell carved on it?"

"Is there magic sealed in it?" asked Lina.

"No," said Sylphiel. "It's just that the artist had really weird tastes. The position of the subject just doesn't convey anything." Lina and Zel fell over. Lina then got up to examine the statue.

It was a statue of a girl. She was wearing a simple blouse and tunic and traveling pants. Usually sculptors put girls in either flowing silk or ::ahem:: nothing at all. The position was also weird. She was just standing there, with one arm slightly away from her body, and her palm raised, like she was about to say something.

"Maybe they were just trying to capture the true essence of this person," Sylphiel said. "Maybe she was a simple country girl who spoke out against oppression or something."

Lina blew air through her bangs. "Well, this was a pleasant waste of time. But at least it got us away from working for a while." However, Lina's breath of air rustled something.

"Hey, what do you think this is for?" said Sylphiel, pointing at a silver ribbon tied around the statue's outstretched arm. "Maybe there's something written on it." She untied the ribbon and looked it over. "Or maybe not." But it was a very pretty ribbon, she had to admit.

Lina sighed. "I guess there really isn't anything spectacular down here. Even if that ribbon was woven out of pure silver strands, it still wouldn't be worth enough to seal away in a place like this." She took the ribbon, only to find that it felt like normal silk, without the slightest hint of metal. "Oh, even better. It's just dyed silver." She clenched her fist in frustration. "Who the heck would go through all the trouble of building this stupid place if there's nothing down here?!"

"Can I keep the ribbon, though?" Sylphiel asked.

Lina was about to yell at her when they heard a rather audible crack. Turning, they found that it had come from the statue.

"The statue just moved, didn't it?" said Sylphiel.

Lina cheered. "All right! A trap! It's about time!" She readied a fireball to blow the piece of rock to smithereens.

However, instead of attacking, the stone from the statue simply flaked off, revealing the very animate, very living form of the girl it had portrayed. "....think this is such a good ide..." She blinked, realizing the people she was talking to were not whom she expected. "Uhhh.... who are you?"

Lina, Sylphiel, and Zelgadis could only just look at each other.


	3. Trapped in Stone! What's the Real Reaso...

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 3  
Trapped in Stone! What's the _Real_ Reason?**

* * *

The statue girl regarded the trio skeptically. Now that she was no longer made of stone, she actually had some color to her. Her hair was jet black and extended to the small of her back. Her vest was navy blue, and her blouse a faint violet. She wore lighter blue travelling pants and black boots. "Okay, who are you guys, and how did you get down here? Did my sister send you, or are you just more of _those_ people?" she asked warily. Her only reply was a few blank looks. She scratched her head. "Look, at least say something, so I can make sure we're all speaking the same language here."

Sylphiel held out the silver ribbon. "Um, are you mad at me because I took this? Sorry, I thought you were just a statue...."

The girl cautiously took the ribbon, looking confused. "Statue? What do you mean stat....?" Her eyes widened, like she had just realized something. "Oh hell." She tied the ribbon around her wrist for safekeeping, then began patting and looking through her vest pockets. "Knowing sis, she probably left me... a-ha!" she exclaimed, triumphantly pulling a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. Lina, Zelgadis, and Sylphiel simply looked on, completely lost.

"Pardon me," said Lina. "But do you think you could explain who you are and why you were sealed in stone down here?"

The girl waved her hand, reading the note. "Shush. This is more important." Lina was somewhat taken aback as the girl read down the note, looking decidedly unimpressed. "'So sorry, dear sister,'" she read aloud, sounding rather bored with the note. "'This was done for your own protection', yadda yadda. 'The following are instructions on how to'...." She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Hmm..." She read the rest of the note in silence, until she got to the end. "'P.S. Since you're reading this note, it obviously means that someone released you, so please do yourself a favor by eliminating them.'" She gave the note a flat look for a few moments, while Lina, Zel, and Sylphiel assumed a defensive stance.

"Why kill us?" said Sylphiel. "This was all just an accident."

The girl shrugged indifferently. "Accident shmaccident. You're trespassing, and now you must face... the consequences," she finished darkly, lowering her head. The other three backed away, not terribly sure what that comment implied. The girl stood motionless, glaring at them for a moment.

And a moment longer.

And a moment longer.

"Crap," she said, finally. "You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?"

"If 'this' involves trying to kill us, you can bet your butt we're not going to make it easy on you," replied Lina, who cupped her hands to prepare a fireball if things got ugly.

The girl looked at the note flatly again, then back at Lina's group, then back at the note. "'Do yourself a favor by eliminating them'," she read again. "Sis, what were you ON when you wrote this? 'Eliminate them'. Yuh-huh, right. With WHAT, pray tell? I'm not exactly Miss Mighty here." She glanced at the books on the desk. "Those're no help." Then to a pile of cinderblocks in the corner. "Like I could lift those." Then to the ribbon on her wrist. "Yeah, right." Then to the broken weapons. "Why do we even _have_ those?" Finally, her eyes rested on something promising. She smirked smugly and glanced back at Lina's group, who had stopped paying attention to her a few minutes ago and were currently chatting amongst themselves.

"We need to track down whatever asylum lost this one," Zelgadis muttered.

The statue girl snorted and proclaimed, "Okay, I've delayed the inevitable long enough, but now you shall face the wrath of..." Lina, Zelgadis, and Sylphiel snapped out of their conversation and looked warily at her. "The wrath of..." she continued, stretching out her arm to grab the object she had in mind. Finally, her fingertips came in contact with it, and she sneered. "Feel the wrath of... the CHAIR!" she exclaimed, lifting the menacing piece of furniture over her head.

Lina smacked her forehead. "No wonder they kept her sealed up. Fireball," she announced halfheartedly. She sent the ball of flame flying, and the chair that had once threatened their lives lived no more.

The girl dropped the pile of ash and shook her head. "Well, she can't say I didn't try. Oh well, guess I can't kill you now. It would just be a hassle, anyway. Besides, judging by what the rest of that letter said, sis wasn't really in her right mind when she left instructions. Anyway, you three don't look very suspicious."

Lina eyed Zelgadis at the "don't look very suspicious" comment. She shrugged. "Ah well, maybe this kid has a higher tolerance for people who are different." Zel didn't respond.

The girl sat on one of the shelves and looked at them intently, like parent waiting to hear a child's excuse for breaking a lamp. "Anyway, now that that's all cleared up, I'm curious to know how you got down here. Your intentions may have been benign, but you've broken and entered nonetheless."

"We... opened the doors and went down the stairs," Lina stated obviously.

The statue girl nodded. "And?"

"And what? That's all there was to it," Lina replied.

The girl looked confused. "You mean... you didn't run into any of the traps? You weren't stopped by any barrier spells? No illusionary passages?"

"Lina actually went so far as to go around looking for those," Zel said, dryly. "But this lab is about as uneventful as a deserted street."

"But.... if the wards are gone, then....." she whispered. She leapt off the shelf and ran up the stairs.

"Whoa, wait a sec!" Lina shouted, hot in pursuit. She soon realized, however, that running up an endless flight of stairs was extremely tiring. A Raywing spell solved that problem, and it quickly closed the gap between her and the fleeing girl. Lina caught up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Hold it!" she commanded.

The girl tried to squirm free. "Let me go!" she shouted. "You have no reason to detain me, and I just want to check something!"

Lina had the girl pinned to the wall. "I'm not letting you go anywhere until you explain some things. Like who you are and why you were sealed down in that lab."

"Believe me, it's best for you if you _not_ know anything about me or my situation," the girl said, her cheek pressed against the stairwell wall. "But my name's Sonjia, okay? And if you must know something, I was sealed down there for protection. At least that's what my sister said."

Lina smirked and chuckled. "What kind of protection? Protect you from the rest of the world... or the rest of the world from you?" The last thing she needed right now was to release some rampaging demon.

Sonjia narrowed her eyes and looked Lina straight in the face. "Bite me."

Something about that completely shocked Lina, as she lost her grip and fell down a few stairs, allowing Sonjia to make her escape. Zel and Sylphiel finally caught up to her at that point.

"Lina? What's wrong? What happened?" Zel asked.

"Violet eyes," Lina whispered. "She's got violet, slit-pupiled eyes...... Like a Mazoku."

* * *

Sonjia reached the top of the stairs, panting. She had no clue as to what had just spooked the orange-haired sorceress, whom she had heard referred to as "Lina". But she took that chance to make her escape. "Sorry about that, Lina, but you've got no right to ask information from me," she said to herself. "And there's something I've just gotta know." However, finding that out wasn't going to be easy, as she realized she was standing at the bottom of a 20-foot hole.

"Well, this is definitely different from what I remember." She dug her hands into the side of the hole and proceeded to climb. The ground was extremely loose, however, and it took all her strength to keep herself from slipping. "What I wouldn't give right now for a little Levitation," she muttered as she reached for the top.

Lina and company got to the top of the stairs just in time to see Sonjia's feet disappear over the top of the hole. "Come on!" said Lina, snapping a Levitation spell in place. "There's something weird about that girl, and I want to know what she thinks she's up to." It was Lina's experience that told her to let sleeping dogs lie. Anyone or anything sealed up like that usually had a really good reason to be. And she really didn't feel like being held responsible if this Sonjia girl ended up blowing up the world or turning everyone into chickens or something.

When Lina got out of the hole, however, she discovered that her culprit hadn't gone too far. In fact, Sonjia was standing right at the edge of the hole, completely still and stark white from shock. "Wh.... When did this happen?" she uttered. She was gazing out upon the pieces of houses strewn about, and the hundreds of workers working to rebuild them.

"Oh, I should have known," said Sylphiel. "It must be a shock to you seeing the city destroyed like this. But we're making good progress rebuilding."

Sonjia turned and looked at Sylphiel. "RE-building? As in building again? How long ago was it first built?"

Sylphiel thought a moment. "I believe it was first established shortly after the Mazoku War ended, about a thousand years ago. Why do you ask?"

Sonjia gulped. "Cuz the last time I went down into that lab, there was no city here..."

"Whoa! Wait a sec!" said Lina. "You mean to tell me that you've been sealed in that lab for over a thousand years?"

Sonjia nodded quietly. "Man, one kick in the butt after another." She sighed and fingered the ribbon still tied around her wrist. "You mentioned that the Mazoku War ended a thousand years ago. Would you happen to know who ended up winning?"

"Uh, it was a stalemate, sort of," said Lina. "Ceipheed broke Shabranigdo into seven pieces and sealed him away, but exhausted his energy in doing so. So, even though the war's over, the world is still in dispute."

"Ah," said Sonjia. "I sure was down there a lot longer than I thought I was. So, now I guess my only problem is that I've spontaneously acquired a thousand-or-so year memory gap." She rubbed her hands together. "And now that I'm back, I guess the first thing to do is hit the history books."

But before any of them could say anything more, the foreman had tracked down his victims, who were once again not working, much to his dissatisfaction. "Okay, so what's your excuse this time?" he grunted, folding his arms across his massive chest. Lina and Zelgadis cowered in fear.

"S... sorry!" said Lina. "We just wanted to check out...."

"I'm not very happy with you guys right now," he boomed, rolling up his sleeve. "And you don't wanna see me mad!" Lina covered her head with her arms to hide from the scary man.

Sonjia, on the other hand, was looking back and forth between Lina and the foreman, completely confused. "So what makes him all high-and-mighty?" she asked. "You sure didn't seem like the cowardly type."

Lina would beat her up for the "cowardly" comment later. First not considering Zelgadis suspicious, and now not being intimidated by the massive hulk of a foreman standing before them? Being sealed in stone for a thousand years must have done something to this girl's sense of perception. "Can't you see?" said Lina. "He's scary!"

Sonjia raised an eyebrow. "I guess the definition of 'scary' has changed in the past thousand years. I don't find him the least bit threatening. And considering my current condition, that's saying a lot."

"But.... he's so..... big!" said Lina.

"Guess the definition of 'big' has changed too," said Sonjia, scratching her head.

The foreman clomped over to her. "You feel like picking a fight, little lady?" he growled, staring her straight in the face.

Sonjia was still decidedly unimpressed. "Go on. Hurt me."

Lina jumped up. "She's nuts! What is she trying to prove by standing up to that guy?" She was beginning to think that maybe this girl _was_ sealed up because she was crazy. If it wasn't that, her bad attitude was a sure second.

Zelgadis jerked on her cape to get her attention. "You said she had Mazoku eyes, right? If she really is Mazoku, what could a guy like that do to her?" he reasoned.

Lina blinked in realization. "I guess you have a point there." She smiled. "But if she is a Mazoku, then I guess she won't mind a fireball for that 'cowardly' remark." She began charging up a ball of flame in her hands.

"And if she isn't Mazoku?" said Zelgadis.

Lina had already released the fireball. "Oops." The fireball went sailing at Sonjia, who was still standing her ground against the massive foreman. At the last second, she sidestepped it, letting the foreman get burned to a crisp.

"Hm, even though it missed, that felt pretty rewarding," said Lina, cracking her knuckles. Zel couldn't help but agree with her on that one. Lina looked back at the charred foreman, only to notice that he was quite a bit shorter now than she remembered. He coughed up a bit of smoke.

"Lina-san, was that really necessary?" he said innocently, in a higher, but immediately recognizable voice. Lina could feel her face burning with anger as she menacingly took a few steps toward him.

"Xellos....."

He immediately found himself in a headlock, experiencing Lina's wrath. "How dare you go around telling me what to do and acting all scary like that!" she growled at him. "I should Dragon Slave you for that!"

"Glad to see you're feeling braver," said Sonjia, off to the side. "Told you he wasn't very impressive."

"Ne, Zelgadis-kun!" Xellos shouted to the sulking chimera. "I rather enjoyed you following my orders for once! You should do it more often!"

"I can't believe I was tricked by that two-faced fruitcake of a Mazoku," Zel grumbled. "By the way," he said, addressing Sonjia, "how were you able to see through his disguise like that?"

She raised an eyebrow disdainfully at him. "It's a secret."

And for Zel, that confirmed it. Sonjia was a Mazoku.


	4. Backtrack! We Got off on the Wrong Foot

* * *

Gourry and Amelia had seen the blast set off by the fireball and came running to the scene. They knew that Lina was responsible, but were curious as to exactly why she fireballed someone. But when they saw the toasted Xellos, not even Gourry had to ask questions.

"Xellos-san! Zelgadis-san!" Amelia chirped. "I didn't realize you were here! Are you helping us rebuild this city too?"

Lina smacked a hand to her forehead and sighed. "Amelia, when are you going to catch a clue that _none_ of us are doing this voluntarily?"

"I am," Gourry offered. Bonk.

"Oh, how wonderful!" exclaimed Amelia. "In times of crisis, we always manage to find each other! Now we have once again joined forces to fight for the cause of justice!" She struck a few poses.

In the midst of this, Sonjia took the opportunity to attempt to sneak off. However, she realized that someone had a firm hold on the back of her vest.

"Going somewhere?" said Zelgadis, narrowing his eyes. "I don't believe any of us gave you permission to leave."

"I didn't realize I needed permission," she replied, glaring back at him. The glare revealed to Zelgadis that she did indeed have violet, slit-pupiled eyes.

"Zelgadis-san!" Amelia interrupted. "Who's that girl?" She noticed he was holding her by the back of her vest. "Zelgadis-san, if you want to keep people working, you don't need to beat up on them like foreman-san does."

"Hello!" called Xellos, grinning despite the fact that Lina still had him in a choke-hold.

"She's not a worker," said Zelgadis dryly. "She's just annoying and suspicious." Sonjia glared at him.

"That's Sonjia," Sylphiel explained. "We accidentally released her from some sort of seal in the old lab we found."

That piqued Xellos's curiosity. "Old lab?" He tried to get a good look at the girl while still in Lina's Death Grip. Finding that it was utterly useless to struggle with Lina Inverse, he simply teleported from her grasp, and reappeared right next to Zelgadis. "A lovely find, Zel-kun," he teased.

Zelgadis growled. "Get away from me, Mazoku bastard...."

Sonjia blinked and looked at Xellos. "Mazoku?"

Lina stalked over to them and beaned Xellos on the head for escaping her grasp. "Yeah, Xellos is a Mazoku."

Sonjia regarded Xellos intently, looking him up and down. After a few minutes of staring at him, she announced her observations. "He sure doesn't look like a Mazoku."

Everyone fell over, groaning at the Gourry-ish deduction. "Of course he doesn't look like a Mazoku!" Lina shouted. "He's just in a human disguise!"

"Really?" Sonjia reached out and tugged on Xellos's face. "Must be a mask or something...."

Everyone fell over again. "It's a MAGIC disguise!" Lina huffed, stating the obvious.

"Anyway," said Xellos, not really caring what anyone thought he was, "you mentioned an old magic lab. I'm curious to know what was down there."

"Why am I not surprised?" sighed Sonjia, throwing her arms into the air. "I've been sealed away for over a thousand years, and I haven't been released for even ten minutes yet and it's already back to the same old shtick. _Go Away_," she said forcefully.

Xellos was in the process of trying to figure out what sort of word "shtick" was when Lina interrupted, "Well, if she won't tell you what was down there, to save everyone's sanity, I can. It wasn't exactly exciting, though. There were just some useless storybooks, even more useless swords, some bricks, a desk, and Little Miss Sunshine over there," she said, listing them all off from memory. "And, aside from the stone spell, absolutely no magical items whatsoever. Heck, I felt even less power down there than at your average buffet restaurant."

"Wouldn't there be power at a buffet you were at?" reasoned Gourry. "I mean, you'd be tearing the place apart."

Lina thought a moment. "True... but I'd probably get more power eating the chili at that buffet than taking anything from that lab." All this food talk was starting to make her hungry.

"I see," said Xellos. He then snapped his fingers in excitement. "Well, looks like he was wrong!"

"Who was?" said Lina.

Xellos put a hand behind his neck and grinned. "Well, Jadarin, the Mazoku underling that destroyed this city, happens to be one of my associates. Actually, up until recently, he was just a brainless grunt. However, a little less than a year ago, he suddenly gained some form of sentience, and has been trying to move up the ranks ever since."

"And what exactly happened that made him change?" wondered Lina.

Xellos wagged a finger. "That's a secret," he answered, which in this case translated as "I haven't a friggin' clue", but there was no need to let the others know that.

Amelia's cheeks puffed out. "So you mean that Mazoku just blew up this defenseless city just to impress you master? That is by all definition evil! Lina-san, we must stop this threat, in the name of Justice!"

Lina sweatdropped and waved her hand absently. "Well, it's not really my problem is it? I don't really want to get involved in some rivalry business between Mazoku. They can sort it out themselves." But, to please Amelia, she appended, "But, if that gangly garbage heap ever tries attacking me again, his butt's gonna be on the other side of the moon in two seconds flat!"

"Actually," said Xellos, "he wasn't supposed to destroy the city. This level of destruction is far beyond what his status will allow."

Lina almost laughed at the thought of destruction limits among the Mazoku. An image flashed in her head of a super-deformed demon announcing, "Congratulations! With this promotion, you are now allowed to destroy three city blocks instead of just two!" She surmised that some sort of order of authority had to be kept amongst them. "So," she said out loud, "if he wasn't trying to destroy the city, what was he doing here?"

Xellos shrugged. "He's trying to win the favor of my superior, so claimed that there was an old lab here that contained information about power that could be used to destroy the world. I made a bet with him that there was no such information, and it looks like I won!" He suddenly opened his eyes and jabbed an accusing finger at Sonjia. "That is, of course, unless _you_ have it!"

Lina fidgeted and whispered to herself, "That _would_ be a good reason to seal someone away. Crap..."

Sonjia looked around her, unsure if such a remark was meant for her or not. "Me?" she questioned. "Why the heck are you always asking _me_?! First of all," she said, holding up a warning finger, "I'm not exactly the supreme magic user in my family. My sister and brother were more skilled with spellcasting than I ever was...."

Lina rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, so you have a brother now, too?" she commented, starting to completely doubt the girl's sincerity.

"Had," Sonjia corrected. "He was gone long before I was even sealed away. The Mazoku got him. Anyway," she said, turning her attention back to Xellos, "Even though my sister was the strongest spellcaster of the three of us, she specialized in defensive magic. Shields, wards, cloaks, and the like. So, unless this 'Jadarin' is looking for a really big wall to sit behind, he's out of luck," she concluded, hoping that her suspicions were correct in that they had no idea who she was or what she was talking about. That right there might have already been too much.

"Your sister was the most powerful, and her wards didn't even work," Lina said. "That's pretty pathetic."

Sonjia clenched a fist a growled. "Alright. That's it.... I'm tired of you people criticizing me and asking stupid questions! Just let me be, okay?" She struggled to get out of Zelgadis's grip, but wasn't making much progress.

"We wouldn't ask you stupid questions if you didn't give us stupid answers," he said coldly.

Sonjia glared at him. And then did something she wished she'd done from the very start. She smacked him right across the face.

Amelia flinched. That girl wouldn't have done that if she'd known any better. She'd have a few broken fingers after that. Amelia looked back up, expecting to see Sonjia nursing a broken hand, and Zelgadis looking annoyed at her....

Instead, in the momentary shock, she'd broken free of his grasp, and none the worse for wear. Of all people, Zelgadis was the one nursing an injured cheek, looking rather surprised.

"There. Now leave me alone," she stated firmly, looking positively ticked. With that she stalked off.

"My dear, I believe you're missing something!" Xellos teasingly called after her. He then playfully held up her ribbon, which he'd managed to swipe in the confusion after she'd shown her "appreciation" for Zel.

Sonjia went pale, and immediately stopped in her tracks. She turned to face him. "You'd better give that back, if you know what's good for you," she threatened.

"Oh dear, how unpleasant," said Xellos, floating up a ways over her head and dangling the ribbon out in front of him. "But you've exhibited such a wide variety of negative emotions today, and frankly brought out the worst in all my fine friends down there. The Mazoku will dine well tonight," he teased. "I can't end it just yet."

Sonjia threw a rock at him, which he easily dodged. "Get down here, you ignorant lunatic!" she yelled at him. "Give that back!"

"Temper temper," he scolded, holding the piece of silk just out of her reach. "What makes you so attached to this silly thing, anyway?"

Sonjia blinked. That Mazoku seemed sincere in his statement that he had no idea what the ribbon was. Had it really been so long that everyone had forgotten? "It's my sister's, that's all!" she stated flatly, while picking up a piece of wood to swat at him with.

Gourry watched the commotion and scratched his head. "She must be a baby bird," he reasoned to Lina.

Lina looked at him. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, my grandma always told me that baby birds take after whoever they see first when they hatch. And you said that when you pulled her out of the stone, you were the first thing she saw. So, she must be taking after you." For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Lina whacked him.

* * *

However, Gourry wasn't the only one watching this. From atop one of the finished buildings, the Mazoku identified as Jadarin watched in amusement. Sonjia was throwing things at Xellos, Lina was throttling Gourry, Amelia was looking confused, and Zelgadis looked annoyed. All in all, it was total chaos. He watched Xellos flit around with the stolen ribbon and smirked.

"That's right, you just keep that up," he said. "You think you won the bet, do you? Hmph." He stood and clapped his hands together. "I think it's time we upped the ante. I'll raise you a hundred human lives." With that, he teleported away while Xellos was still distracted, and before he caught on to what was going on.

* * *

Back on the ground, Sonjia was still using just about anything she could get her hands on as a Mazoku swatter. "I'm warning you... Give that back!"

Xellos grinned, highly enjoying his little game. "And what are you going to do if I don't?" She swatted at him again. "Ha! Too easy!" he exclaimed. "I could dodge your throws blindfolded!" He then looked at the ribbon he just happened to be holding. "In fact, that sounds like fun!" He tied the ribbon around his head, covering his eyes. "You may fire when ready," said Xellos, saluting.

No sooner had he said that, something did in fact hit him. And rather hard as well. It appeared that the ground had somehow snuck up on him while he wasn't looking. Upon closer examination, he realized that his levitation spell had completely lost effect. Sonjia stalked over to him and yanked the "blindfold" off his face.

"I hope that taught you a lesson," she said, reprimanding him.

"Hold it!" said Xellos, rubbing his backside. "Did _you_ just do that to me?"

Sonjia gave him an indifferent look. "You did it to yourself, moron," she chided, tying the ribbon back on her wrist. "I just woke up from a few thousand year stasis. Don't mess with me when I'm cranky."

"No, seriously, how did you do that?" asked Xellos.

Sonjia wagged a finger mockingly at him. "That's a secret."

Xellos pouted. "Hey, that's my line! It's copyrighted!"

Sonjia turned her back on him. "If you can steal my ribbon, then I can steal your line," she reasoned to him.

Lina stood by in silence, completely astonished at what just happened. "She broke a Mazoku's spell without even uttering a word," she said to herself. "It didn't even look like she was casting a spell. Is she really that much more powerful than she's letting on?"

"Well, if she could slap Zelgadis without getting hurt, I'd say she's pretty strong," said Gourry, nodding. "I bet she could even beat me arm wrestling."

For once, the classic "Gourry-missing-the-point" comment gave Lina an idea. "Hey, Gourry," she said. "She obviously isn't too fond of me, Zelgadis, or Xellos. And considering her earlier observations, you two seem to be thinking on the same wavelength. So, why don't you go talk to her?"

Gourry was hesitant. "But what if she beats me up?"

Lina grabbed his collar. "If you don't get over there and get some information out of her, I'll beat you up personally!" she shouted. "If she really is some sort of threat to the world, I don't want the blame for it on my shoulders for the rest of my life!" She released her grip on Gourry, and he obediently jogged over to where Sonjia was standing.

Sonjia's first impression of the group wasn't a very positive one. She stood against a wall of a building, arms crossed, looking like she was ready to rip someone's throat out. So, she wasn't too thrilled to see Gourry coming over to her. "What do you want?" she grumbled, looking away.

Gourry scratched his head. "Lina said your name before, but I think I forgot what it was," he remarked.

Oh, that really impressed her. "Sonjia," she said, still not looking at him.

Gourry pulled out a pen and paper. "Uh, how do you spell that?" he asked.

Sonjia fumed. "Do you people insist on mocking me?!" she shouted at him. "Back in my time, people were usually supposed to be a little more polite to people they first meet, especially if said person is... well, anyway, has politeness died out over the thousand, two thousand, ten thousand, or L-sama-knows-how-many thousand years I've been sealed away?"

"But you haven't been very polite, either," Gourry observed truthfully. He smiled and held out a hand. "But that's okay! I'm Gourry Gabriev, and I don't want to be impolite!"

Sonjia was silent a moment, her back still to him. "What do you want?" she finally asked, a little less harshly than she had the first time.

"Oh, Lina wanted me to talk to you!" he said with enthusiasm. "She said that she thought that you and I think alike, so I would be the best one to talk to you. And I heard you were stuck in a rock for a really long time. And now that you're out, you don't know anyone and everything's different." He thought to himself briefly about that. "I bet if I was in that situation, I'd want someone to talk to, since I'd been alone so long. So, I guess that's why I'm supposed to talk to you!" He felt proud of himself for being able to figure that much out on his own.

Sonjia didn't say anything for a long while. For a moment, Gourry wondered if she'd heard him or not. But then she spoke. "Alone, huh? I guess you could say that... L-sama knows I've had my share of time alone. I lost my brother at the beginning of this whole mess, and my sister while I wasn't watching. So now I'm the only one left here...." She finally turned to Gourry, a questioning look on her face, and a hint of annoyance at the pressing questions. "But why do you want to know?"

"I don't know," said Gourry, sitting on the ground to ponder. "Lina just wants me to find out stuff about you. She thinks you're suspicious."

Sonjia smirked and slid down the wall to sit on the ground as well. "So I guess I've gotta stop acting suspicious if I don't want people asking questions a mile a minute," she admitted. "But if someone treats me like a jerk, then I act like a jerk. Trust me, I have good reason to expect that everyone I come across will pester the hell out of me."

"Because they don't want you to destroy the world?" Gourry wondered, voicing Lina's suspicions she had told him. Sonjia fell over.

"No, Mister Gourry, I don't think destroying the world is anywhere on my 'to do' list." These people really were clueless. She just couldn't decide if that made them more or less annoying.

Gourry stood up, beaming. "Well, that means Lina will be happy! She was worried you were gonna do something bad."

"There's a first," Sonjia muttered. "Someone's happy that I'm _not_ gonna destroy everything."

"Are you supposed to?" wondered Gourry curiously.

Sonjia gritted her teeth like someone had just given her a blow to the back of the neck. "Drop it, blonde boy," she said, irritated.

However, Gourry wasn't going to drop it just yet. Even he had started to suspect there was something more to this, and if it concernced the world's safety, it concerned him as well. "Did you do something bad?" he asked, cautiously.

Sonjia scooted on the ground to turn her back to him. "I don't happen to think so. But it seems everyone else has a problem with it," she grumbled.

"What'd you do?" Gourry asked, trying to be reassuring that he wasn't accusing her of anything.

Sonjia was silent again for a moment, looking like she was looking for the right way to phrase what she wanted to say. Gourry waited paitently until she finally said, simply, "We did the right thing.... But sometimes when you want to do the right thing, it just doesn't work out."

"I know how that is," said Gourry, sitting back down and leaning his head against the wall. "When I first met Lina, I thought she was a little kid, so followed her around as her guardian. She's beaten me up lots of times for that. But she's still a good kid at heart."

"I see," said Sonjia. "You seem a decent fellow, though. Bad judge of character, but a decent fellow. Trust me, I don't get along with hu... people very well."

Gourry shrugged and grinned. "Even though we all got off to a rough start, I bet you'd be happier meeting new people! Lina usually says she doesn't like people, either, but when something bad happens, it's amazing what she can do. I bet when something goes wrong, you use your strength for the good of others!"

Sonjia snorted. "A helluva lot's gone wrong, but I've only ever looked out for myself, hot shot. Besides, what strength?"

"Oh, you know," said Gourry, cheerily. "You hit Zelgadis with your bare hands and didn't even flinch! That's pretty impressive, considering he's made of stone."

"He's.... made of stone?" asked Sonjia, looking over to where Zel was standing. "Sure didn't feel stony when I hit him." She shrugged. "Maybe I hit a soft spot."

Gourry nodded. "Anyway, why don't you go meet everyone, since you're all alone? And since your sister used magic, maybe you could tell Lina about your family's spells, since she'd probably be more interested in them than me."

"No!" shouted Sonjia, a little more forcefully than she meant to. "I mean, if it'll get you people off my back, I'll go meet them, but I'm rather protective of my sister's legacy. Lina would be better off not knowing about the spells. They were all defensive, anyway, so there's not a whole lot of power value to them."

"Okay!" said Gourry, getting up. "I bet people would like you better if you introduced yourself when you met them instead of beating them up."

"I don't know...." said Sonjia, scratching her head. "First impressions tend to be lasting impressions."


	5. Tempers Flare! It's All a Matter of Per...

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 5  
Tempers Flare! It's All a Matter of Perspective**

* * *

Now that the foreman was no longer there to stare down Lina's throat every second of the day, she and Gourry had little problem making plans to leave the city. Lina had done more manual labor over those past few weeks than she had ever hoped to do in a lifetime. Which was mostly Xellos's fault, she had to admit. And that "Jadarin" fellow. Yes, it seemed that Mazoku were always out to get her and make her life miserable.

"So, where are we headed now?" asked Gourry, packing up his sword and returning his overalls to the old man he'd borrowed them from. Although he'd wanted to stay and help rebuild more, the overwhelming assistance that Sairaag had gotten had made the city practically spring back to its original state in this short amount of time.

"Dunno," said Lina, "But I'll take on any bandit and find any treasure along the way!"

Sonjia facefaulted in the background. "_That's_ your plan?! I swear, I've never met a more carefree and disorderly person. I'm utterly appalled!" she exclaimed, turning her back on them. But then, under her breath, "But kinda envious at the same time..."

"Why don't you come to Seyruun?" suggested Amelia. "I'm heading back there now, and I'm sure daddy will be happy to see you."

Lina clapped her hands together and drooled. "Ah, a royal feast at Seyruun palace. I could really go for that. Great idea, Amelia! Zel, you coming along, too?"

Zelgadis sighed. "I suppose I could hit the Seyruun library. The white magic capital must have _something_ useful for me."

Sonjia turned her attention back to them upon hearing Zelgadis's statement. "Magic capital? Library? Where is this place?"

"It's where we're headed!" said Amelia, cheerfully. "You can come along if you want!" Lina, Zelgadis, and Sonjia all gave the girl a dirty look.

"If I feel like going to Seyruun, I can get there myself," said Sonjia, turning from them once again. "I don't need to follow you people around."

Lina's eyebrow twitched. "If it means we don't have to put up with that attitude, it's just as well," she muttered.

"Whatever," said Zelgadis, turning down the road out of town. "You all can head out whenever you feel like it, but I'd prefer to make as much distance as possible before sundown."

"Sounds good to me!" chimed in Lina, heading after him. "So, long, Statue Girl! Have a nice life!" she called, giving her hand a half-wave backwards before bounding down the road again.

"Wah, wait up, Lina!" shouted Gourry, trotting after her. He turned around to face Sonjia, still running backwards down the street. "Sorry we can't help you out! Hope you get along okay by yourself! There's lots of nice people in Sairaag!" he called back, then tripped over a rock and fell flat on his back.

Amelia sighed and looked after her departing comrades. "Well, I should be heading off, too. But if you still want to get to Seyruun, the Relief Squad of Justice is still around here! Just ask one of them, and they'll be sure to show you the way once you feel like you want to leave!" she supplied cheerily. "But anyone with a heart full of Justice is sure to find their way to Seyruun!"

"... I'll keep that in mind," replied Sonjia, mouth twitching. "You can go away now."

"Bye-bye, Sonjia-san!" called Amelia as she disappeared down the road, waving.

Sonjia sighed and shook her head. "These people are definitely not the type I'd want to wake up to. I'd be grateful to never see them again."

"And have fun helping rebuild the city!" came Amelia's voice sailing from the horizon.

Sonjia snorted. "Feh. Civil service work? _Me_? I don't think so. I'm much better than some lousy--"

"Don't feel like working, HUH?" came a booming voice from behind her. "We're gonna have to fix THAT."

Sonjia looked up and saw a man who had to be at least twelve feet tall, who was almost as wide in the shoulders as he was high, with arms as big around as the trees in the ancient forest, fingers as thick as her waist, and whose neck was bulging with veins. And this person wasn't Xellos this time. They had apparently appointed a new foreman now that Xellos's ruse was over. "So, what's it gonna be, little missy?" he thundered. "Work and pain? Or just PAIN?"

"Gik...!" replied Sonjia eloquently, and took that moment to dash out of town.

"To the PAIN!" came the bellow from behind her. "GO for the PAIN!" Thankfully, he wasn't following.

Sonjia stood panting behind a tree for a few minutes. That had to be one of the scariest things she'd seen in her life. And you can take her word that she's seen some pretty scary things. "That's just great!" she commented to herself. "Now what am I gonna do?"

After a moment of silence, she took a step down the road in the direction of Seyruun. "I'm not following them," she told herself. Another step. "No, I am NOT following them!" She began slowly walking now. "No! No! No! I'm not! I'm not going to do this! Crap." She gave in and just starting ambling on down the road, hunched over in defeat. "This is total crap," she grumbled to herself. "I'm not supposed to have to rely on people like _them_." Unfortunately, such was the case. Lina would be thrilled.

* * *

Night had fallen. But since Lina's group was currently in a forest, it just bounced off the branches and landed somewhere ahead of them. However, soon after that, they'd walked into it, so it was just the same.

Lina bopped herself on the side of the head for allowing such a screwy metaphor anywhere near her. But, since it was indeed night, it would be best to set up camp. The roads were quite unfavorable in the dark, and all her previous work had worn her out. She was under the impression that the others felt the same. Except maybe Gourry, who seemed to be born to work. She admired his stamina sometimes.

"See ya in the morning, everyone!" announced Lina as she wrapped herself in her cape and was asleep before she even hit the ground. She could be heard snoring a few seconds later.

"Wow," said Gourry, scratching his head. "I guess she really was tired." He looked at Amelia and Zelgadis, who were looking rather droopy-eyed themselves. "Well, I guess I'll take first watch, since I still feel fine." The other two nodded and, after a moment of rearranging their belongings, were soon asleep as well.

Gourry unbuckled his scabbard and sat down on a log, propping his sword in front of them. Helping the city out had been a lot of fun, but he wished that there was more they could have done to help that Sonjia girl. He may not have been astute about too much, but he had noticed that she seemed troubled about something. Probably waking up after a really long time and realizing her whole family was dead was part of it. Yeah, that was really sad.

Rustle. Wow, that was quick. Gourry gripped the hilt of his sword. The others were completely exhausted right now. They didn't need to be bothered tonight.

Rustle. Rustle. Splat. "Owww... Man, why the heck do tree roots have to stick up like that?" Gourry blinked and peered over a bush. There flat on her face on the ground was that Sonjia girl from before.

"Hey, so you decided to come with us after all?" he said in a slight whisper so as not to wake the others.

Sonjia looked up at him, then off to the side. "Not exactly. I still want to get to Seyruun, so just happen to be going the same direction you are. Doesn't mean I'm following you."

"When going to a far-off place, it's always best to travel in large groups," Gourry reminded. "Better to be safe than sorry."

"Gee, thanks, Mr. Cliched Rulebook," said Sonjia getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "But you'd be safer carrying a candle lit upon a bottle of nitro than travelling in a group with me."

Gourry smiled and said, "I dunno what that means, but we've got Lina here, and she's probably about the same thing."

"I feel even safer now," said Sonjia, nodding slowly and backing away.

"That's good!" said Gourry, completely missing the sarcasm and offering his hand. "How 'bout you at least come over and rest for a while? Maybe help stand guard, since you're really strong!"

Sonjia sighed and walked towards him, saying, "Didn't I already tell you that I'm not strong? I'm weak! Wimpy. Wussy. Feeble. A pushover." She hoped at least one of these words clicked.

"You sure don't act like it," said Gourry, sitting back on the log.

"Yeah, and it's a good thing, too, or else everyone would've walked all over me a long time ago," she said, sitting on the opposite end of the log. "When you've got a lot of enemies, even if you're not strong, you've gotta at least pretend that you are."

"Oh, so you did some other stuff before that made other people not like you?" asked Gourry.

Sonjia shook her head. "It's more about what my sister and I _didn't_ do that made others mad at us. I don't really know what happened to my sister while I was sealed up, other than she got herself killed. And probably because of what we didn't do."

"What didn't you do?" asked Gourry.

"It's not important anymore, okay?" she shot at him. "Hopefully after a few thousand years, everyone's forgotten about it." She sighed, resting her head on her knees. "I just wish I knew what's been going on all this time. Things have probably changed so much, I don't even know who my enemies and allies are anymore. I'd probably share a lot more about what happened if I knew who I could trust." She furrowed her brows in thought. "And that 'Jadarin' guy worries me. Your Mazoku friend mentioned that he was looking for something in the city."

Sonjia looked back over at Gourry, but realized that he'd fallen asleep, as he'd actually been a lot more worn out than he was letting on. "Hmph. Sorry for boring you," she muttered. She quickly put two and two together and realized that that meant she was the only one left awake. An interesting development.

Sonjia stood up and looked at the ribbon still tied to her wrist, which glinted silver in the moonlight filtering through the trees. "Lemmie guess. I'm the guard now, huh?" she said to herself. "And what exactly could I do if a monster came tearing through here? Real smart." She took a deep breath. "Still..."

Lina was sprawled out on the ground, snoring like an idiot. Sonjia glanced at her as she walked past. Pathetic. She found Lina's supplies and began rummaging around. After a few minutes, she came across what she was looking for.

"Aha!" she whispered triumphantly, so as not to disturb anyone. It was a small dagger from Lina's swordbelt. Sonjia unsheathed it and looked it over, nodding. "This should do nicely," she commented to herself.

She sheathed the dagger and was about to get up, but felt something sharp and cold pressing against her back.

"I thought you'd try something," said Zelgadis. "I didn't think you'd stoop as low as killing us in our sleep to complete your mission of eliminating trespassers."

Sonjia, at swordpoint, raised her hands and dropped the dagger. "You just don't trust anyone, do you? Sorry if you misinterpreted this..."

Zelgadis pressed the sword harder against her back. "What is there to misinterpret? You're stealing one of Lina's weapons."

"I'm not stealing it! Just borrowing it," Sonjia explained. "Look, I decided that I'd make a pretty lousy guard if I was unarmed. And since I don't have any weapons of my own, I thought I should borrow one just for tonight."

"Uh huh," said Zel, not believing a word of it. "Is that the best excuse you can think up?"

"It's not an excuse! It's the truth!" Sonjia growled. "Jeez, isn't there anything I can say that would make you believe me?"

"Nothing comes to mind," Zelgadis replied flatly. "Lina won't mind if I kill you, though. You being near her supplies with the dagger out is proof enough that you were up to something."

Sonjia's shoulders shook with anger. There was just no way of talking reason to this guy! And if she hit him before to get away, she could do it again....

She swung her arm around for a punch to his stomach. She hit him dead on, but this time, it felt like she'd just punched a wall. As she recoiled, Zelgadis brought his sword down, giving her a rather nasty cut on her arm.

"Owwww... Gods, do you keep rocks in your shirt or something?" she said, shaking her injured hand.

"In a manner of speaking," said Zelgadis, putting his sword away. "Haven't you noticed that I look quite a bit different from everyone else?"

"Everyone looks a little different from each other," said Sonjia, rubbing her hand. "What makes you so special?"

Zelgadis fell over. "If you're trying to get on my good side by claiming you don't notice it, don't try. It doesn't help to claim not to see something that's obviously there."

"And what would that be?" she asked, looking for something to be used as a bandage. She looked back up to see Zel slowly pounding his head against a nearby tree.

"Are you really that much of an idiot?" he grumbled. "Can't you see that I have blue skin, rocks all over my face, and wire hair?"

"No," said Sonjia flatly.

Zelgadis growled and drew his sword again, pointing it at her. "And you say _we_ mock _you_! You're revolting!"

"Sorry you feel that way," said Sonjia indifferently, wrapping a bandage around her bleeding arm. "I don't know what you see, but I'm just saying what I see."

He sheathed his sword and crossed his arms. "So, what do you see?"

Sonjia glared up at him. "I see a stubborn boy living in his own little reality, completely absorbed in himself, without giving the slightest attention to those surrounding him. He takes his own interpretations as the gospel truth, and won't listen to the reason of others. And before you ask, his skin is the same color as mine, and his hair, although it looks like he got electrocuted, does not appear to be made of wire."

Zel's expression didn't change. "Are you looking at me, or a mirror?"

Sonjia shrugged. "Hey, I'm not absorbed in myself. I just can't help it if I'm superior to you. Plus, I distinctly called you a 'stubborn boy'. _I_ do not happen to be considered a 'boy', unless that's been changed over the centuries as well. Nope, I'm a girl. Woman. Female. The fairer sex. And infinitely better than you," she concluded.

Zelgadis didn't know what to think about that. Well, actually, his mind was screaming at him, "Must... resist... urge... to kill," to which he was equally feverently retorting, "Why the hell should I?!" No, must regain composure. Lashing out in a fit of rage was unbefitting of him. Even if this girl wasn't some sort of threat, the world had been infinitely better off without her presence. And she had the nerve to so arrogantly pretend he was just a normal human being. Well, there was an easy way to prove her wrong.

Zelgadis rolled up his right sleeve and extended his forearm. "Now what do you see?" he queried.

"Your arm," Sonjia replied flatly. "Are there any other mind-boggling questions you'd like me to answer?"

Zelgadis sighed and rolled his sleeve back down. "No, you've just proven yourself to be an ass. And hardly as 'superior' as you think you are."

"How the hell does that prove anything?" Sonjia demanded. She looked at her own arm and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I get it. Yeah, that's real proof there, supposedly-stone boy," she said sarcastically. "You think just cuz you gave me a similar cut on my arm as the scar you've got on yours, that automatically makes me equal or inferior to you. Jeez, you people are even more hopeless than I thought."

Zelgadis rather carefully hid his surprise. He'd gotten a scar on that arm when he was young and training with a sword for the first time. However, Rezo's spell had completely erased all trace of it, although he still felt it ache at times. This either meant that this girl was some sort of mind-reader, or truly couldn't see him as a chimera. But what other than her arrogance could blind her so? Well, and old acquaintance of his, Martina, had created curses based on pure obsession alone, so stranger things had happened. So, he inquired again as to what exactly this girl could sense.

"So, to you, I'm just a normal person. I guess that means that if you punch anyone, you'll break your hand."

Sonjia looked at her hand and spread it, hearing the joints crack. She winced. "Hey, it didn't hurt when I hit you before. I don't know why it did this time. Unless your stomach's different from your face."

"Stone skin all around," he sighed. "No soft spots, no spots particularly harder than others. I don't particularly feel like standing here all night explaining my physiological characteristics to you, so would you mind dropping this conversation?" So, he was stone to her after all. He thought as much.

She got up and glared at him straight in the face. And then she brought her good hand up and flicked his nose. Withdrawing her hand triumphantly, she exclaimed, "Ha! That didn't hurt! I knew I wasn't going crazy!"

"I beg to differ," said Zelgadis, holding his nose. "I thought you were crazy from the moment I saw you. You're nothing but a lunatic who was probably sealed away so she wouldn't wreak havoc on the world."

"Ah ah ah," she said, waving a finger in his face. "That's just your opinion of me. And, since I pride myself in being superior to you, I won't argue your opinion, although I don't respect it at all. But just because you think it's true doesn't make it true." She brought her arm down, but realized it was still bleeding. "Drat. I need another bandage."

Zelgadis growled at her apparent "holier than thou" attitude and pulled the ribbon off her wrist. "Why don't you just use this thing? Or are you too attached to it to get it soiled?"

"Hey hey," she warned, grabbing the end of it quickly. "Don't _ever_ take this from me, got it?"

"What's so special about it?" Zel asked. "You've had it off for a while before, and it hasn't killed you, so it can't be that important."

"It won't kill me," said Sonjia, trying to yank it out of his hand, "But it could kill you."

"Oh yes," said Zel sarcastically. "I'm dying. The very touch of this little ribbon is killing me. It's burning my hand, and I'm wasting away to nothingness. Oh, what a cruel fate it is to be defeated by a little piece of fabric."

Sonjia finally pried the ribbon out of his hand and tied it around the injury on her arm, having some difficulty, considering her right hand was badly bruised. "It's not like that," she explained. "The ribbon itself won't kill you. Just someone who knows how to use it will."

"Oh, so the ribbon is a weapon, then?" Zelgadis reasoned.

Sonjia let out a huff. "No, it's not a weapon! It's.... Urrrgh!" she yelled, frustrated out of her mind. "Just.... Go away!" she said, turning her back on him.

"I still need to kill you for stealing Lina's weapons," he stated.

Sonjia yawned and lay on the ground. "Do it in the morning. You're awake now, so you've in essence relieved me of the guard duty that your blonde friend so graciously appointed me. Good night, and have fun."

Zelgadis fumed. He thought about just drawing his sword and impaling her right there, but he decided he was above killing someone in their sleep. Unlike her, he mused.

* * *

Everyone awoke early the next morning, fully rested. The first thing on Lina's mind was breakfast, so she ordered everyone to gather up all the supplies as quickly as possible so they could get a move on. It took her a moment to realize that Sonjia was even there, but she was too hungry to really question her presence. Amelia, on the other hand, was glad that she had decided to join up with them, and bounded over to Sonjia to babble on about what a wonderful decision she'd made and that this was a truly just journey, yadda yadda.

She noticed the bandage on Sonjia's arm and asked, "Hey, when did that happen?"

Sonjia nervously turned away, hoping that Zelgadis hadn't told them his version of the story yet. "Um, I just tripped when walking through the forest last night. That's all." She wasn't _completely_ lying.

Amelia examined the cut. "That's okay. I specialize in white magic, so this shouldn't be a problem to fix up."

"Oh, you don't need to bother yourself with me. I'm fine!" Sonjia tried in vain to pull her arm away.

"Don't worry, this wont hurt," said Amelia, charging up a healing spell. She held a glowing white light over Sonjia's arm.... and nothing happened. "Hm, that's odd," said Amelia, holding her hand closer. "The wound should be closing up." She touched her hand to the cut, and the healing spell evaporated completely. Amelia blinked. "I've never seen that happen before."

Sonjia pulled her arm away. "I guess my arm just doesn't feel like getting healed today."

"Hell-ooo!" Lina interrupted. "Would you two quit standing around? I'm hungry! And if we don't get to a restaurant fast, I'll eat _you_!"

Realizing she probably wasn't kidding, Sonjia and Amelia jogged up to join the rest of the group in their quest for food.

The map had indicated a town on the other side of the forest. It would take about two hours to get there, and everyone hoped that Lina didn't resort to cannibalism along the way. Thankfully, due to Lina's hunger-induced speed, they made it through the forest in an hour. Just as the map had said, a small town lay just down the hill.

"Food!" Lina exclaimed, taking off at lightning speed. Gourry was hot in pursuit, trying to get to town before Lina did to get first dibs on the menu.

"Are those two always like this around food?" Sonjia asked Amelia.

"Yup!" said Amelia cheerily. "You get used to it after a while."

"I haven't" said Zelgadis, slowly making his way down the hill, pulling his hood and mask over his face. "I don't understand why I even bother hanging around with those two."

Amelia shrugged. "Well, while Lina-san and Gourry-san are eating, we can ask the townspeople about any unjust deeds that have been going on around here, and help purge the area of injustice!"

"That's..... nice...." said Sonjia slowly. What a strange girl. But at least she was a little less judgmental than Lina or Zelgadis. "By the way," she said, whispering to Amelia, "Why does Zelgadis wear that hood and mask?"

"Oh, he's really self-conscious about his looks," said Amelia. "He's worried about people looking at him funny when he goes into town."

But Zelgadis didn't have to worry about any strange looks, because everyone in town was dead.


	6. Insult! 101 Ways to Flambé a Mazoku

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 6  
Insult! 101 Ways to Flambé a Mazoku**

* * *

Lina had seen her share of death during her relatively short lifetime. Even so, it still bothered her a great deal. And the sight before her now did little to calm her stomach, which had already been protesting due to hunger. At least her reaction reminded her that she truly had not become as insensitive as many a legend depicted her.

Gourry put his hand on her shoulder to snap her out of the sudden shock of seeing the town laden with dead bodies. Lina jerked her head around for a moment, trying to find somewhere to look away to, but the dead were everywhere. Perhaps somewhere, there was _someone_ still alive at the moment. Sure would be nice to have a healer right about now.

Lina spun around and yelled urgently back up the hill for Amelia. Although she somewhat regretted wanting Amelia to come to a place like this, she would be the most helpful if they did indeed find someone still alive.

Amelia heard Lina yell from the edge of town. She grabbed Sonjia by the arm and said, "Sonjia-san! Something's wrong in town!"

"What, is someone being 'unjust'?" Sonjia managed to reply before her arm was nearly ripped off as Amelia sprinted down the hill. "Whhhhhhoooaaaaaaaa! Let me go!" she yelled as she was dragged along behind the righteous princess. "Whatever's wrong in town, it's none of my--ow!" A rather large rock had shut her up for the remainder of their short journey.

Lina and Gourry were standing at the edge of town, still looking down the main street in shock. Everyone was dead. Bodies were lying on the street, at vending carts, and partially hanging out windows. Amelia gasped and choked as she caught up to them, dropping Sonjia in a heap at her feet. Zelgadis simply turned his head away and sighed.

"This is too weird," said Lina, examining the area. "It almost looks like everyone was just going about their normal business, then just keeled over and died at the same time."

"Stress is a killer," said Gourry, nodding, it being the best explanation he could concoct. Lina just elbowed him in the side for that. It was too serious a situation for her to really beat him up for the stupid comment.

"Urrrggghhh..." came a groan from the ground. Everyone turned suddenly, hoping it was a survivor, but it turned out to be only Sonjia. "Remind me to avoid you people from here on out if I value my sanity," she mumbled through the dirt.

Everyone ignored her as Lina turned her attention to Amelia. "Amelia, can you do anything for these people?" she asked. Amelia lowered her eyes and shook her head.

"There's nothing anyone can do for any of these people anymore," she said. "This whole place has a really creepy empty feeling, and I don't think it's just because of everyone being..." she trailed off, not wanting to say it.

Lina sighed. "Well, the least we can do is try to figure out what exactly happened here. C'mon, let's see if we can find anything." They wandered off, but Amelia stayed behind momentarily, feeling incredibly small and useless. Whoever did this... to all these innocent people... no, she would never forgive that person. Her white magic would do no good for these people now, so all she could do was help Lina and the others search for clues.

Sonjia, in the meantime, had stood up and dusted herself off. She was currently surveying her surroundings for the first time, having a slightly different reaction than everyone else.

"Hey, a town full'a cadavers. Don't see that every day," she commented, arching an eyebrow.

Amelia turned to face her. "Sonjia-san! How can you be so indifferent about this?!"

"People die all the time," she replied, shrugging. "Not my fault, so it's not my problem."

"It's everyone's problem!" Amelia retorted, eyes aglow. She struck a pose and declared, "It is the duty of every just person on this planet to defend their fellow men from the forces of evil!"

"Asking for help is the cheap way out of pain," Sonjia responded. "I, for one, am no one's ticket to cheating death! ... Or causing death, for that matter," she added absently.

"Is that why you won't let me heal your arm?" Amelia asked. Although she didn't like the attitude towards life Sonjia had shown just now, at least she didn't seem to be a hypocrite about it.

Sonjia patted the ribbon tied around the injury on her arm. "It's not like you could do anything, anyway. In my current condition, this wound will never heal," she admitted. She then blinked and patted her arm again. "Shouldn't it hurt when I do this?"

Sonjia slid the bloodied ribbon up her arm some and found that her cut was completely gone. There weren't even any traces of blood save for that stuck to the ribbon, which had made it completely red rather than its original silver. Amelia noted that Sonjia seemed strangely dismayed.

"Maybe that healing spell I cast on you a while ago worked after all," Amelia offered as her only explanation.

Sonjia glared at her. "If it was something _you_ did, I'll throw myself at Shabranigdo's feet and ask him to eat me."

Amelia sighed and decided that she was starting to understand why this girl made enemies so easily.

* * *

In the meantime, Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis had gone farther into town to examine the bodies. Lina knelt down beside a man holding a loaf of bread.

"Hm," she observed. "There aren't any traces of physical damage anywhere. He isn't cut up, and he isn't burned or frozen. It just looks like he suddenly died for no reason. Poison, maybe?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "I don't think so. It looks like everyone in town died at the same time. Poison would affect people at different rates. And there isn't any trace of anything in the air that would have done this, either."

"I still think it was too much stress," said Gourry. Lina and Zel ignored him. Gourry shrugged and looked around. A sparkle caught his eye. "Hey, I found a silver bug!" he said, holding the shiny dead beetle up triumphantly.

"Good for you!" said Lina. "Maybe you can pay for lunch with it...... You jellyfish-brain!" she yelled, elbowing him in the head. Sleuthing was definitely not a profession invented with Gourry in mind. She looked up in annoyance, but then noticed something out of the ordinary. "On second thought, that bug isn't the only silver thing around here." Zelgadis looked up to see what she was talking about. Many of the people in town had clothes dyed silver. Also, most of the walls and produce carts had a silver tint to them. That definitely wasn't natural.

"You know," said Lina, pondering. "Everything here is silver. Sonjia just happens to have a very suspicious ribbon that's also silver. You don't think..."

"...That she had something to do with this," Zel finished, smirking. "Perish the thought."

Lina rolled up her sleeve. "Okay, looks like it's time to give that girl some serious questioning. And this time, 'That's a secret' isn't gonna cut it." She stomped over to Sonjia, who was still having a conversation with Amelia, and didn't seem to take much interest in the fact that about a hundred people were dead right in front of her.

"Okay, Sonjia," said Lina, grabbing her roughly by the collar. "I want some real answers about this! And I want them NOW! And don't you dare even think about playing stupid with me!"

"Everyone's dead! I can see that!" she answered. "Why are you asking me about it?"

Lina ripped the ribbon off her arm and held it up. "Because I think whatever happened here had something to do with _this_," she explained. "Everything here is colored silver, and so is this ribbon."

"Actually, right now it's red," observed Amelia. Lina shot her a look, but didn't have any free hands to reprimand her with for the dumb comment. Zelgadis took the ribbon and took it to a barrel of water on the side of the road to wash it off. He returned a moment later and handed it back to Lina, like she had never let it go in the first place.

"Okay, see?" said Lina, holding the ribbon up. "This ribbon is suspicious because it's silv..." She glanced at the now washed ribbon. "Wait a minute. This ribbon is _blue_!" She glared at Sonjia. "Okay, where's your _real_ mysterious ribbon? The silver one!"

"Am I interrupting something?" came a voice from overhead. Everyone looked up to see a figure calmly sitting on a roof. A gangly figure looking to be a cross between a cat and a human.

"Javelin!" said Gourry, putting his hand on his sword. "I thought we'd meet again!"

Lina looked at him quizzically. "Javelin?"

"Isn't that was Xellos said his name was? Javelin, Jordan, what was it? The thing that blew up Sairaag," said Gourry, pointing up at him.

"Pardon me, but I am not a 'thing'. And the name's 'Jadarin'," he stated, jumping down from the roof. He had something in his hands. Thinking they were weapons, everyone backed away. But upon closer inspection, the Mazoku appeared to be holding... a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks. "I was just having breakfast and heard a commotion," he said innocently.

"Wait, did _you_ do this?" said Lina, motioning to the town. Jadarin looked to the town and thought for a few moments.

"Hmm.... Yep. I believe I did," he replied. He plucked up a clump of rice and chewed on it. "So what of it?" he mumbled with his mouth full.

Lina clenched her fist. "You come to a town and kill all its inhabitants at once right behind their backs. You have the nerve to think nothing of it, and..." she said, glaring up at him. "You have the nerve to eat in front of me when you just killed my breakfast!"

A little sweatdrop appeared on Jadarin's head. "Oh dear. Not this shtick again.."

Lina lunged towards him. Jadarin put up an arm to block any attack to the head, but instead, Lina's target was... his bowl of rice?

"Give that to me!" she demanded, trying to pull it out of his grasp. "When I first met you, you promised to find me food! So, this must be mine! Now hand it over!" She jumped up onto his back and tried to reach for it over his shoulder, but his long arms kept it out of reach. Pulling herself up to sit on his shoulders, she wrapped her legs around his neck and began pounding on his head. "I need my breakfast, you stupid Mazoku! And when I don't get breakfast, I get cranky!"

"So I noticed," he said through the constant drumming on the top of his head. "But if you want breakfast, you'll just have to steal it from someone else." With that, he used his wings to pry Lina off his back and throw her to the ground. He then made his escape by levitating above the city.

Lina pulled herself off the ground and glared up at the Mazoku. "Oh no you don't! That rice is MINE! Fireball!" She tossed a giant ball of flame at Jadarin, who simply floated there, watching it come toward him. He lazily spread his wings and put a hand in his pocket, not looking very impressed. The fireball hit him head on...

And evaporated. Lina growled in annoyance. "And here I was thinking you actually had some sort of magical talent."

"Lina-san, he just absorbed your fireball!" Amelia said. "Although, I guess most Mazoku can probably do that," she added after a half a second's thought.

"And speaking of fireballs," said Lina, looking back up at him, "that's what you were using when I first met you. Not just balls of fire, but _Fireballs_. As in the spell. And although I've met my share of Mazoku in the past, none of them were capable of Shamanist magic outside of Xellos using the talismen."

"Ahhh, you mean how Mazoku can't draw power from anything but themselves!" exclaimed Jadarin. "I'm impressed that you know that much about us. However, it will do you no good against me. For you see, I am quite different from other Mazoku."

Lina sighed and buried her forehead in her hand. "Good for you, but you still had to drop your levitation to cast a shield."

"But he's still flying just like before," observed Amelia.

"Ah, but wings are quite the gift, little girl," he said down to Amelia. "True, they're not as efficient as levitation, they make for a decent backup." Upon finishing his gloat, a downdraft helpfully smacked him into the roof of the building he was hovering over. "And still the wind picks on me," he mumbled through the shingles. "Wasn't _my_ fault."

Jadarin picked himself up off the roof, attempting to regain some part of his intimidation factor, while Lina and the others on the ground were trying to hide their sweatdrops. True, this guy did claim responsibility for what happened here, so he needed to be punished, naturally. But given that initial showing, how much trouble could he really cause them?

"Sorry, pal, but as pathetic as you are, I'm gonna have to blow you up now," said Lina.

Jadarin slowly pulled his lips into a grin. "Oh, really?"

Lina pointed at him. "Damu Bras!" she shouted, sending a ball of energy streaking towards him. It hit him, and just like before, evaporated. "Okay, so maybe the shield's a little more powerful than I thought. But he's gonna pay for ruining my breakfast! Elmekia Lance!" Same result. Lina shook with rage. "NOW I'm ticked! Stop fooling around, you stupid Mazoku!"

Jadarin shook his head and smiled. "Sorry, but there's absolutely no way you're getting through this shield."

"To hell with you!" Lina yelled. "Gaav Flare!" This time, the spell didn't even hit him. In fact nothing happened. "Oh yeah, Gaav's dead," Lina realized. "Can't use that one anymore." She tried to think of something else to try, when suddenly, a previous conversation flashed through her mind.

_"My sister specialized in defensive magic,"_ Sonjia had said. _"So, unless this 'Jadarin' is looking for a big wall to sit behind, he's out of luck."_

Lina looked behind her at Sonjia, who was simply standing by and watching. "Could it be...?" Lina wondered. "Could it be that this is one of her sister's spells from the old lab?"

Her train of thought was broken by a tap on the shoulder. Lina whirled around, expecting to be face-to-face with that rotten Mazoku.

Except the rotten Mazoku she was faced with wasn't the one she was expecting. "Xellos? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Mind if I help out?" said Xellos. "I happen to have some business with this individual as well, and I'd hate to have you blow him up before I got the chance to talk with him."

"No way!" shot Lina. "That Mazoku killed hundreds of innocents and messed with my breakfast, and I'm not going to stop this until he's in a few hundred pieces!"

"My my," said Xellos, scratching his chin. "So what am I to do with this plate of ham and eggs I just happen to be carrying around?"

Lina's expression suddenly changed. "Give give!" she shouted, yanking the plate of food away from him. She wasted no time in wolfing it down, almost eating the plate as well. Within three seconds, she was done.

However, in that time, Xellos had situated himself in a hovering position in front of Jadarin. He wasted no time getting down to business. "Our Master is displeased with you, Jadarin. You've overstepped your bounds on this one."

Jadarin didn't seem the least bit threatened by this. "I revoked my 'bounds'. I can do anything I please, and don't need some Greater Beast bossing me around."

"In that case," replied Xellos, "my Master has given me permission to eliminate you. I can't say I'll miss having you around." With that, Xellos began charging up a ball of dark energy.

"Hey, Xellos, no fair!" Lina shouted up to him. "I wanted to be the one to blow him up! Let me!"

Jadarin simply ignored Xellos and examined the back of his hand while the ball of dark energy was released upon him. It engulfed him, but faded completely away as soon as it did so, leaving him completely unharmed. Xellos was more or less surprised.

"Ooo-kay," said Lina. "_Now_ I want to know what shielding spell he's using."

"Are you quite through?" said Jadarin. "That little slap on the wrist isn't going to do much for me. I suggest you try using a stronger spell," he taunted.

Xellos was more than a little annoyed, but kept his cool as he began casting another spell. He let loose a stream of dark energy in multiple bursts. Still, it did absolutely nothing.

"Okay, guys, it's time we pitched in!" said Lina. "Hit that Mazoku with everything you've got!" She turned back to her prey. "Fireball!"

"Blam Blazer!" shouted Amelia.

"Flare Arrow!" Zelgadis chanted.

The Fireball and Blam Blazer hit Jadarin, yet had no effect at all. The Flare Arrow, however, caught Xellos in the back. Lina turned and looked at Zelgadis. He shrugged.

"You didn't say _which_ Mazoku to hit, now did you?" he said innocently.

"Zelgadis-kun, that's so cruel!" said Xellos, pouting.

Amelia struck a pose, pointing skyward at Jadarin. "Evil creature who wishes destruction upon the innocent, prepare to feel the wrath of Justice!" She assumed a spellcasting position. "Ra Tilt!" she shouted.

Xellos moved out of the way as the beam of spirit energy leapt towards its target. Jadarin simply crossed his arms and let it hit him, as it too evaporated on contact.

"Waaah, it didn't do anything at all!" cried Amelia, clutching her hands in front of her face.

Lina finally made up her mind. She marched over to Sonjia and glared at her. "Okay, you said your sister specialized in defensive magic, so would you mind telling us what the heck kind of shield he's using and how we can get around it? Or at least how to bring it down?"

"Is it absorbing absolutely every spell you throw at it?" she asked.

"YES!" Lina huffed. "Haven't you been watching?"

"Well, you haven't tried _every_ spell on him yet, have you? There still might be some spell that can get through it, which would mean it isn't..."

Lina grabbed her collar. "Isn't WHAT? You know what it is, don't you? But noooo, you've got to make it hard for everyone and not tell!"

Jadarin had been observing the confrontation from a distance, as a Dynast Breath fizzled out at his right side. "Ah, I see you've met my associate," he stated.

Lina whirled to face him. "Associate? Her?"

"But of course!" he said. "Without her, I would never have been able to kill everyone in this city, nor would I have been able to create my shield. She's helped me immensely through all of this."

Lina turned her eyes back to Sonjia. "Is that so...?" she said slowly.

Zelgadis put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "That's just what I wanted to hear."

* * *


	7. Questions for Questions! What Good are ...

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 7  
Questions for Questions! What Good are the Answers?**

* * *

Sonjia looked back and forth between Jadarin, Lina, and Zelgadis. "Whoa, wait a minute! You don't actually believe him, do you?" 

"I'd say the story is rather credible," said Zelgadis. "It looks like it was a wise choice to not completely trust you. You were suspicious from the start."

"If he didn't reveal you, your intentions were becoming rather obvious, anyway," added Lina. "We would have found you out sooner or later on our own. With all your secrecy and general bad attitude, you were an obvious double-agent, although not a very good one."

"I'm _not_ working for him!" Sonjia shouted. "He's probably trying to create some sort of diversion by pretending some random bystander is on his side!"

"I find it interesting that he chose you," observed Zelgadis.

Sonjia lowered her head and muttered to herself, "What other 'bystanders' do you see here, nitwit?"

Jadarin wagged a finger. "Oh, stop denying it. Why, you killed everyone in this town with your own power."

Sonjia smacked her forehead. "Your first story was better. I wasn't anywhere near this town, stupid!"

"Magical power can work from a distance," Jadarin reasoned. "Face it, your power just wiped out an entire population."

"Did not!" Sonjia retorted.

"Did too," Jadarin taunted back.

"Did not! And I've got an alibi, too. It just so happens that I can't even _use_ magic! Not even a lowly light spell." To demonstrate, she raised her hand with the palm outstretched. She then cast a short, worried glance at the ribbon tied to that arm and whispered, "Please don't work." She cleared her throat and commanded, "Lumin!"

Lina blinked. What the heck was "Lumin"? The only lighting spell she'd ever heard of was, well, Lighting. Curious as to what this unknown spell was, Lina watched intently.

Which, of course, was not the most intelligent thing to do considering this was supposed to be a light spell. Sure enough, a giant ball of light erupted from Sonjia's hand, illuminating the entire town. Everyone covered their eyes, momentarily blinded by the powerful flash. Sonjia quickly waved her hand to cancel the light spell, which had equally surprised (and blinded) her.

"Fascinating," said Jadarin, rubbing his chin. "That sure looked like using magic to me."

Lina shook her head, trying to relieve herself of the little spots of color dancing in front of her vision. She looked over at Gourry and noted that he was standing around trying to catch the little spots floating around. It would have been funny, under different circumstances. Lina stalked over to Sonjia and grabbed her by the collar. "What the heck was that for?!" she demanded, not really admitting that her now distorted vision was partially her own fault for staring.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the view, Sonjia didn't even have a snide remark for that. In fact, she didn't appear to even react to Lina's presence. Her expression was rather interesting, and Lina could practically tell she was madly trying to decide whether her ability to use magic constituted as a Very Good Thing or Very Bad Thing.

"Hey!" said Lina, shaking the shaken girl. "Don't zone out on me! I know you know something about what happened here, and I'll at least sleep better at night if I know why everyone around me is dropping dead." Still no response. Lina sighed and tightened her grip. "C'mon, don't make this hard on everyone! Just tell us about the spell!"

Lina didn't really consider her request very poignant. However, upon hearing it, Sonjia did appear to snap out of it. Or maybe just snap. Because the next thing she knew, Lina had a fist in her face, and the last thing she saw before she flew backwards through the air was a glare of bloody murder that looked downright demonic.

Gourry, being quicker of reaction than he was of wit, caught Lina before she hit the ground. He released her once she had gotten even footing again. Lina looked back at her assailant, rubbing her bruised cheek. "I think someone's just _asking_ to get blown up," she commented. "Popular thing today. Gotta put another butt to kick on my queue."

"What exactly did you say to her?" asked Gourry, warily. His experience with Lina had taught him that girls must be born with a specific topic to avoid when talking to them. With Lina, he'd eventually learned that this topic was her chest size. Maybe Lina had called Sonjia flat-chested.

Meanwhile, back in the air, Jadarin seemed to find this whole event a laughing riot. Even Xellos, although on a mission of destruction, seemed amused by this. Well, they were Mazoku after all.

"Bravo, bravo, my dear!" cheered Jadarin, clapping. "I certainly didn't expect anything to illicit _that_ sort of response out of you. You must've become quite sensitive to the topic over the ages," he mused. But then, to himself, he added, "Must've been one hellish nightmare of an ordeal to break you so. I can relate."

"Sonjia.... san?" ventured Amelia, looking at the girl who seemed an almost tangible aura of rage surrounding her. True, from the moment they met, Sonjia had always been pissy, bossy, arrogant, and rude. But she had never been _angry_. Not like this.

"One way or another, she knows what happened here," said Lina. "I don't really care about what qualms she has with divulging information. They say that what you don't know can't hurt you, but," she paused, pointing a finger at the ebony-haired girl in blue, "if it's something that could potentially threaten me, you'd better be darned sure I've got a right to know!"

Jadarin laughed from behind her. "Why stop there, little sorceress girl? Why not have her just teach you the spell, like she did for me?"

"No thanks!" retorted Lina, without a second thought. "If this is all it's good for," she said, indicating the scattered bodies around town, "then you two can keep your stupid spell! I don't play games just to cheat," she finished, confidently.

"Well said, Lina-san!" said Amelia, coming to stand beside her. "Those who murder innocent people without a thought are those whom followers of Justice call evil! We may not know the reasons, but what you are doing isn't right!" she stated, eyes ablaze at the floating Mazoku.

"You've got that right," said Gourry, also coming to stand with them. "I dunno what's going on here, but if people are dead because of it, then you've become our enemy."

Zelgadis sighed and stood with them as well. He didn't have anything inspirational to say, but he knew that Lina would beat him silly later if he didn't allow her to have this dramatic moment.

Sonjia, in the meantime, was being ignored. She wasn't too terribly used to this sensation, and wasn't sure if she really liked it or not. Her eyebrow twitched at the group's speeches. It was difficult for her to remain angry when she no longer had anyone to direct her rage at. She snorted and punched the wall next to her to release the built-up energy. She immediately bit her tongue as the recoil vibrated up her arm and into her head. If she had expected it to hurt, she wouldn't have hit the wall quite _that_ hard.

Jadarin seemed quite amused at Lina's group. "Such conviction from you humans! Rushing in blindly to face something you have no knowledge of." He raised his hand in the air and smiled wickedly. "Quite foolish, though. But if you want to know what you're up against, allow me to demonstrate by killing you all!"

He snapped his fingers and the four on the ground took defensive stances, not quite sure what this would do to them. After a few seconds, it appeared that it did nothing to them. Lina looked back up at Jadarin and saw him curiously examining his hand. He then looked around frantically and noticed Sonjia pounding her head against one of the buildings.

"That little..." he began, but couldn't finish as a Fireball caught him in the face.

"Sorry we didn't call your bluff, but I think we've done enough playing around," shouted Lina.

Jadarin wiped the ash out of his face and yelled, "Hey, Sonjia, if you're going to beat yourself up, why not do us all a favor and just knock yourself out?" Sonjia removed her head from the dent in the wall and gave him a Death Glare.

Lina looked back and forth between the two. "'Hey, Sonjia'?" she repeated, curiously. She looked back at the annoying girl and wondered, "If you two aren't working together, why does he know your name?" This was getting way too suspicious to be just a coincidence.

"He's a Mazoku," said Sonjia. "That means there are a lot of reasons he could know who I am."

Lina raised an eyebrow. That cinched it. She'd had her suspicions as soon as she'd met the girl. And she'd met enough Mazoku recently to begin to develop a "feel" for their presence. And although part of Sonjia's "feel" was completely the opposite of, say, Xellos's, she figured it was just the personality. But because of this, Lina concluded, "You're a Mazoku, too, aren't you?"

Sonjia's eyes widened. "What?! I..."

She was cut off by Jadarin practically rolling over in the air laughing. "This is just too funny!" he crowed. "Human intuition never ceases to amuse me."

"I have to commend her in the fact that I did not realize her identity, either," said Xellos, floating down beside Sonjia. She backed away, fearful of what he just said. After a few seconds of examining her, Xellos mockingly mimicked her initial observation of him, stating, "She sure doesn't look like a Mazoku." Everyone present fell over, also mimicking their reactions to the first time this observation was made.

"And here I was afraid that anyone here was capable of figuring anything out," muttered Sonjia from the ground.

Xellos pointed his staff at her. "However, orders are orders. 'Destroy the renegade and any cohorts,'" he stated.

"Heh?" was Sonjia's eloquent reaction.

"Do you realize what would happen if you destroyed her?" warned Jadarin from the air. "Zelas Metallium never told you _why_ she wanted me dead, did she? And I've got the feeling that her orders to you were pretty urgent. Urgent enough to pull you away from your work tracking down Maryuuou Gaav's remaining minions." He sniffled dramatically. "I feel so special."

Xellos shrugged. "I do not question my orders, nor the reason I was given them. But, in time, I'm sure it will all be clear."

"You're funny," said Jadarin. "Imagine Zelas Metallium's excitement when I suddenly had a coherent thought. Being the caring little prick that she is, the very first thing she said to me was '_Where is she?!_'. Can you believe that, even after thousands of years, she still hasn't given up on it? I'm sure if the other Mazoku lords were aware of what was going on, they'd be after us as well."

Sonjia stood up. "You can chase _him_ to your heart's content. As for me, I'm downright sick of being chased. Now, if you'll excuse me." With that, she turned and ran out of town.

Lina smacked her forehead. "She wouldn't be chased if she didn't run," she reasoned to herself.

"Are we gonna go after her?" asked Gourry.

Lina waved her hand. "Leave her be. She's obviously not going to help us any. If we coincidentally meet up with her again, I'll be sure to kick her butt, but I'm not going to go out of my way to be in her presence. Besides," she said, looking back to the figure floating in the air, "we've got someone more important to deal with."

"In that case, you keep the renegade busy while I track down the cohort!" suggested Xellos cheerily.

Lina sweatdropped. "You sure like letting us do your work for you. But it doesn't matter. I've got a bone to pick with this guy, anyway."

"You will do no such thing!" Jadarin yelled to Xellos. He snapped his fingers, which everyone minus Gourry recognized as his "Bluff Snap". However, if it was supposed to do anything, Xellos vanished before it could.

Jadarin cursed, and looked like he was about to pursue, when a Flare Arrow caught him in the arm. This time, it did some damage.

Lina brought her arm down. "Looks like you forgot to keep your shield up!" she said. "I'm finishing this right here, right now!"

"Go away," said Jadarin, pulling one of his chopsticks from before out of his pocket. "Xellos probably won't be able to kill the girl, but I can't take that chance."

"Oh, I've been around Xellos long enough to know that, although he's a goof-off, he always gets the job done," said Lina, throwing a fireball at the annoying cat Mazoku thing. He wielded his chopstick like a bat, and swatted at the fireball in midair. The ball of flame dissipated on contact.

"Really," he said. "You can stop that now."

Lina realized that this was probably true. From what she'd seen before, there was no way to hit the guy while his shield was up. Sonjia obviously knew something about it, even though she wouldn't tell. Well, being in league with him, of course she wouldn't give away her partner's weakness. Lina realized that the only way to have a chance against this Mazoku was to track down Sonjia and throttle the information out of her before Xellos blew her to bits. How annoying.

"Come on, guys!" Lina called to them. "We're getting out of here!" Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia nodded and ran after her as she hurried out of the city. Once they had gotten about halfway up the hill to the forest, Lina stopped and looked back at the town. Jadarin was still hovering slightly above it, laughing at them. She smirked and began chanting a spell. Everyone around her immediately recognized it and took off towards the forest.

"Oh, Jadarin!" Lina called. "Here's a 'Thank You' Dragon Slave for that wonderful battle!" She let loose the glowing red beam at the town. If this worked, it would destroy the stupid Mazoku and burn all the bodies, perhaps giving them a slightly more dignified burial. Plus, she wouldn't have to go find Sonjia, which was another big plus. The Dragon Slave struck the city...

...And evaporated into nothingness, leaving the town completely unscathed. Lina dropped to the ground, dumbfounded.

Gourry peeked out from behind a tree. "Hey, doesn't the Dragon Slave usually go 'boom' or something?" he asked.

Lina scratched her head in bewilderment. "Who _is_ this guy?"

* * *

Sonjia ran through the forest, trying to get as much distance between herself and everyone else as possible. It was obvious that they didn't trust her, but she trusted them even less, if that was at all conceivable.

"If it isn't one thing, it's another," she muttered to herself. "But my sister's dead, so there's no point in chasing after _me_ anymore. The world is nothing but idiots. The don't even care or realize what they're asking of me."

She trotted to a stop momentarily, vaguely remembering something Lina said while she was overcome with anger. "_If this is all it's good for, then you two can keep your stupid spell. I don't play games just to cheat._ " Was she... really sincere about that? If only there were some way to tell...

She turned around to continue running, but a staff caught her by the shins, tripping her. Sonjia fell on her stomach, right at the feet of Xellos. "Going somewhere?" he asked. He jabbed the end of his staff down on her back, preventing her from getting up.

Sonjia sighed. "I guess you people are going to hound me for information no matter what. And you won't stop until I tell, or you kill me, right?"

"Killing you would be easier," said Xellos. "But I also love to know secrets. So, do you want to tell me something interesting before I kill you?"

"Depends," said Sonjia, trying to get out from under his staff. "Only if you tell me something first."

Xellos shook a finger. "Ah, I believe that anything you ask me would be considered a secret. I can't tell you anything."

"You don't even know my question," she said.

"But whatever it is, I'm not answering it."

Sonjia let out a huff and grabbed Xellos by the ankle, yanking his foot out from under him. "You jerk!" It was just enough to lessen the pressure of the staff to her back, allowing her to get up.

"You've definitely got the temper of some Mazoku I know," Xellos observed. Sonjia ignored that remark.

"Anyway," she said, brushing herself off. "My question is..."

Xellos covered his ears and wandered around in circles. "Hmm hmm hmm, I'm not listening! It's a secret! It's a secret! No matter what you want to know." Sonjia grabbed him by the back of the cape, but he vanished and reappeared sitting on a tree branch, still holding his ears.

"Get down here! Do you have a death wish or something?" she yelled at him.

"Not for myself, no. But what makes you think I do?" Xellos asked.

"You tell me what I want to know, and I'll tell you what you want to know," she bargained with him.

"No deal!" said Xellos, jumping down from the tree, then vanishing again before Sonjia had the chance to grab him. He reappeared behind her back and flipped her hair. She turned and grabbed him by the neck, but he teleported to safety just like before. "You can't catch me like this," he taunted.

Sonjia realized he was right. And there was really only one way she could think of that she could possibly catch him. And if it worked, one of her suspicions would be confirmed. She wandered over to a bush and picked off a single burr, examining it. She then turned back to Xellos.

"New deal. If I can catch you, then you tell me what I want to know. If not, then you can kill me or something." She waited for a reply.

Xellos clapped his hands. "Sounds rather sporting! Why not?" He teleported in front of her and grinned. "But what exactly can you do against Astral manipulation?"

Sonjia shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe.... this!" She lunged at him and got him into a headlock. She victoriously snapped her fingers and ruffled his hair. "Ha! Looks like I win!"

"Oh really?" said Xellos. "Then what would you say if I tried this?" The two sat in silence a moment, Sonjia's arm still around Xellos's neck, and neither of them having moved. Finally, Sonjia spoke.

"Do what?"

Xellos opened his eyes in surprise and tried to teleport again. Nothing happened. He went through his entire repertoire of spells, finding them all ineffective and disabled. What the heck did she do?

"Like I said before," said Sonjia. "I win. Now tell me what I want to know."

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," said Xellos. "So, what's your question?"

"I have three, actually," replied Sonjia. She felt Xellos's shoulders slump a little at that. Obviously it was a little more than the original bargain. 

"My name is Xellos Metallium, my quest is to destroy renegade Mazoku, and my favorite color is black," he answered. Sonjia hit him on the side of the head. Xellos flinched at that. It... hurt? A physical blow?

"Okay, _real_ question one. How old are you?"

This time, Xellos fell completely over, sweatdropping. "Oh, I see. I'm sorry, my dear, but I believe I may be a little old for you. I'm not ready for that kind of relationship."

Sonjia blinked, and it took a moment for her to figure out what the heck that was supposed to mean. Once she realized it, she bonked him on the back of the head again. "You dork! Truthfully, I just want to know how old you are!"

"One thousand and twelve.... or so..." he answered cautiously, unsure as to how exactly that information would be of any use to anyone.

"Sounds about right," said Sonjia. "Just making sure you're telling the truth here. Now for the next question: What is your relationship with Lina and the rest of her group?" Realizing that that was just asking for a perverted comment, she quickly added, "From a business standpoint."

Xellos scratched his head. "Well, they're just fun to play around with, really. I wouldn't call us allies or anything. They're hardly followers of the Mazoku, although I sometimes wish they were." What the heck was she trying to get at by asking these questions? She had let him go some time before, but he hadn't turned around to face her, so he couldn't tell if she was busy processing the answers. Plus, he still couldn't use his Mazoku powers.

"And lastly," she began, "From a militaristic standpoint, who is the Mazoku's greatest enemy? Or perhaps just the group that they wouldn't mind obliterating."

Well, that question was slightly more along the lines of what he had expected, but it still didn't ask anything particularly secret. Especially if she was a Mazoku herself. "The Gods, obviously," he said. "They've always been the enemies of the Mazoku. That and their physical counterparts, the Dragons. I personally wiped out a good number of Gold Dragons in my youth," he said proudly.

"Good for you," Sonjia commented absently. "So, basically what I'm summarizing from this is, in all the years you've been around, humans have stayed out of the conflicts between the Mazoku and the Gods. Right?"

Xellos lazily put his arms behind his head. "Well, what exactly could they do? Even though Lina has the power to destroy a Dark Lord, she usually stays out of our business, unless it directly affects her. That's just how humans are. They're not battling for life or death, they're just trying to exist." He turned to face her, but realized that she had gone off to hide somewhere. "So what have you deduced from this, o great detective?" he called out into the forest.

"If anything," she said, sneaking up behind him, "I think I finally realize why my sister was right." With that, she tackled him into a headlock again. Xellos struggled, simply because without his powers, he was more or less defenseless. It was not the most pleasant feeling for a Mazoku. However, after a moment, she released him, and he spun around to face her.

"What was that for?" he asked, slightly shaken, but trying not to show it.

"Just wanted to retrieve this," Sonjia said, holding up a burr that she had pulled from his hair. "You have your powers back now, and are free to go." She casually flicked the burr away. "I have no more business with the likes of you."

Xellos blinked and checked himself. Indeed, he had access to all his powers once again. "Well, what about _my_ questions?" he asked.

"I _said_, 'I have no more business with the likes of you.'" retorted Sonjia. "Go look for your Mazoku pal and beat up on him some more or something. Just leave me be."

"He won't have to go far to find me!" Sonjia and Xellos looked upward to see Jadarin perched on a branch above them. "However, beating me up will be much more difficult." He leapt down and held Xellos at knifepoint. Um, actually, he was at chopstick-point. What was with this guy and his stupid chopsticks? "I'll take it from here, my dear. Thank you for detaining him for me, though."

Xellos didn't feel the least bit threatened by the chopstick point jabbed into his throat. He casually began charging up another ball of dark energy. Well, he tried to, but realized that his powers were once again disabled. This was, what, the third time now she'd done this to him? It was getting old.

"So, she truly is working with you?" Xellos observed.

"No," Sonjia stated firmly.

"Yes," Jadarin corrected. "She is truly my partner in this escapade." Receiving a stern look from her, he added, "Although whether she actually realizes it or not is another matter."

* * *


	8. Finally! We've Figured it Out! ... Hav...

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 8  
Finally! We've Figured it Out! ...Haven't We?**

* * *

"Eeeeeeh?! Lina-san, you think Sonjia-san is a Mazoku?" Amelia trotted up beside Lina, who was walking at a more-or-less casual pace through the forest that Sonjia had disappeared into. Although Lina didn't have any real desire to see that girl again, her curiosity had started to get the best of her. Plus, her women's intuition told her that if she just left this alone, a Very Bad Thing would eventually happen.

"It looks like a definite possibility," replied Lina. "Jadarin obviously knew her pretty well, and there really aren't too many ways to become that acquainted with a Mazoku without being one yourself."

Zelgadis smirked. "However, you've come into acquaintance with a fair number of Mazoku yourself in recent times," said Zelgadis. Receiving a stern look from Lina, he added, "Not that I'm implying anything. I was just making an observation."

Lina shook her head and sighed. "Our main problem is that the enemy has a couple of pretty nasty spells up his sleeve, and Sonjia knows more about them than she's letting on."

"What spells were those again?" asked Gourry. Lina stumbled a little, but didn't completely fall over.

"Your power of total lack of observation never ceases to amaze me," said Lina. She grabbed him by the front of the shirt and said, "Now, look. That guy's got the ability to wipe out an entire town, or maybe more. Plus, he's got some sort of shield that'll absorb pretty much every spell. Now, if he's a Mazoku, and he can cause that much damage, and nothing can touch him, that makes him a _big_ problem!"

"And if Sonjia is a Mazoku as well, what makes you think she'll tell you anything?" asked Zelgadis.

Lina lowered her head. She really had no logical reason to think that girl would be anything useful. It was mostly gut instinct. But, she knew her comrades wouldn't be satisfied without some sort of explanation for her actions. "The way she blew up at me back there when I asked her about the spells..." Lina began. "I don't think she would have reacted like that unless..." She looked back up and saw the others expectantly awaiting her thoughts. "Unless she was really scared... of what they were capable of."

"But why would a Mazoku be scared of them?" wondered Amelia. "If that one spell can kill a whole bunch of people, wouldn't a Mazoku want that?" She paused on that thought. "Unless... Sonjia-san has decided to leave the path of evil and follow the Light of Justice!" she exclaimed, as a multicolored backdrop suddenly sprang out of nowhere behind her.

"I wouldn't go quite so far in saying that," said Lina, sweatdropping and waving her hand. That Sonjia girl really didn't seem to have a drop of justice in her.

Meanwhile, Gourry was still trying to contemplate Lina's initial response to his question, and had completely missed the rest of the conversation. "So... that Mazoku guy has some really bad spells besides the Dragon Slave?" he finally half-concluded. Leave it to Gourry to always remember a Dragon Slave, if nothing else.

"The Dragon Slave?" said Zelgadis. "What does he mean, Lina?"

"Well, that's what destroyed Sairaag," said Lina, fidgeting. "It wasn't ALL my fault, after all. But, that's actually another good point. Jadarin can use Shamanist and Black magic, which, from what I've seen in the past, normal Mazoku aren't capable of. Which could in turn mean..." she trailed off.

Amelia blinked at Lina's unfinished thought. But then, "Well, we can get this all cleared up when we find Sonjia-san and tell her she doesn't have to be afraid of us!" Amelia then happily skipped farther into the forest before tripping over a leaf.

"I don't care what happens to that girl, just as long as we get this resolved promptly," said Zelgadis, ambling on ahead.

"That's the spirit, Zel!" Gourry called after him.

Lina slouched over and continued after them. Talking to Sonjia was not exactly her idea of an exciting time, but such was the tragic life of the Beautiful Sorcery Genius, Lina Inverse. 

* * *

Jadarin kept the chopstick pressed against Xellos's throat. "So you see, my friend, it's two against one. You're not getting out of this one alive."

"Excuse me," said Sonjia. "I'm not against him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not his ally, but I still don't see how you think I'm your ally, either."

"If he dies, you'll be the one to kill him," Jadarin explained. "You already killed all the people in that pathetic little town. And soon, you will cause the demise of all life in this world."

Sonjia raised an eyebrow. And then started laughing. "Oh, man, and here I thought you actually knew who I was. If you did know," she said, pointing at him, "you'd also know that I _can't_ kill him. Or anyone for that matter. Well, I could probably step on an insect, but insects are just insects, you know."

"You sound like you have a lot of experience stepping on insects," Jadarin said thoughtfully. He then jabbed Xellos in the throat a little harder. "But this thing here is just another insect. I'm sure you could find some way to step on him as well." He smirked, his eyes becoming dark. "You know of a way. If you think hard enough, I know you know a way."

"So what if there was a way I might conceivably kill him?" said Sonjia, while Jadarin beamed at the desired response. "Doesn't mean there's any way in hell I would or even _could_ use it. If you want that guy dead so badly, just kill him yourself or something. I couldn't really care one way or another."

"Sonjia-chan, words like that hurt," teased Xellos. He couldn't see her around Jadarin's body, so... wait a minute. Xellos looked back at Jadarin, and noticed some changes. For some reason, he suddenly looked different. He wasn't nearly so gangly-looking, and his hair was quite a bit neater. And his wings were no longer black and bat-like, but... brown and feathered? But Jadarin hadn't looked like that when he first appeared in the tree, Xellos was sure of that.

"So what makes this fellow Mazoku of yours so high on your 'To Kill' list, anyway?" Sonjia asked.

"Simple!" said Jadarin, removing the chopstick and holding Xellos up by the collar. "For the past thousand years, he's beaten on me and acted oh-so-superior just because I couldn't think for myself. But once the shield blocking my mind was released, my first order of business was to exact revenge on my dear Zelas and Xellos."

"Oh, so this is just one of those macho rivalry things?" said Sonjia, not exactly thrilled.

Xellos struggled slightly and looked down. Wait, now Jadarin looked like he usually did. What was going on here? Xellos also realized that he once again had his powers back. Okay, time to blow Mister Insubordinate to little pieces. He placed a hand on Jadarin's arm and cast a spell to electrocute him. But, as seemed was always the case, nothing happened. Xellos checked himself and found that his powers were indeed still functioning. If he couldn't hurt Jadarin whether he had his powers or not, what was the point of taking them away in the first place?

"What's wrong?" taunted Jadarin, tapping Xellos on the nose with his chopstick. "Can't even kill a little underling like me?"

"Would you just kill him or let him go already?" said Sonjia, leaning against a tree. "But if you're just going to sit there and play with him all day, I see no point in my sticking around." She waved absently and started wandering away.

"Why don't you kill him?" Jadarin offered.

"I already said 'no'." said Sonjia, not even turning around. "And asking me isn't going to change anything, because I still can't. But if you wanna kill him, I'm not gonna stop you."

Jadarin scratched the back of his head with his chopstick. "Well, I guess it's your very nature to not want to kill anything. But you are completely content to sit back and watch someone die, when it's practically the same thing."

Sonjia shrugged. "Again, what could I do?" She lowered her voice and muttered, "It's annoying, you know? To always be sought after when you can't do a thing."

Jadarin ignored her complaints and smirked. "You're afraid of this, aren't you?" he said, holding up the chopstick. Sonjia was about to ask why in the world she'd be afraid of a chopstick, when he tilted it slightly, letting it glint. Glint silver, to be precise. "Now do you see? You may think this is no longer an option, but you are quite mistaken."

"Good for you," said Sonjia, halfheartedly. "You found yourself a chopstick that had _that_ cast on it. At least that explains why you could keep everyone at bay for so long."

"Ah, the chopsticks," he said, almost nostalgically. "Yes, I got them from a little restaurant in the first town I ever destroyed of my own will. However, I needed to give them a little..." he snapped his fingers, "_personal_ touch."

Sonjia smacked her forehead and shook her head. "You really expect me to believe that you _cast_ that thing yourself? I already told you, it _can't_ be done anymore. All spells--even that one--need a higher being to draw power from, whether it be a Dark Lord or an earth spirit, or..."

"That was your sister, wasn't it?" Jadarin interrupted. "The being from whom its power is drawn. Quite sad, what happened to her. Killed by the Gold Dragons. Such a shame."

Sonjia looked almost... relieved to hear that. "I knew she was killed. I was starting to fear that it was _you_ who killed her, because then I'd actually have to worry you were telling the truth." She looked at the sky and brushed her hair out of her face. "So those stupid Dragons finally gave in and killed her. They could have at least been courteous and granted me the same favor."

Xellos, who was still hanging by his collar from Jadarin's hand, put all that together. "Ah, so there is a spell which drew its power from your sister? And if the Gold Dragons killed her, that means she was probably a Mazoku. And if she was Mazoku, then that naturally makes you...."

He was cut off by a fireball that blasted into the grove, incinerating the grass and trees. "Ah, Lina-san! So glad you could make it!" Xellos called out.

"She certainly likes to make her presence known," said Jadarin, tossing Xellos to the ground.

Lina appeared and pointed a finger at Jadarin. "I was almost hoping you'd show up here, too. I needed someone to blow up!"

Jadarin shrugged. "Thanks for the warning." Lina let loose an Elmekia Lance on him, but it... oh, by now you should get the gist of it.

"Drat. Stupid shield," cursed Lina. "Sonjia, be useful and give us a hint about getting through that shield of his!"

"Um, you can't?" Sonjia offered.

Lina sulked. "Oh, that really helps. No choice then. I didn't want to use this, but if normal spells won't work on him, then I'll just have to use something that can cut through a subspace barrier," she said, holding her arms to her side.

"I ask that you give it a try, then," said Jadarin, bowing and leaving himself completely open.

Lina clenched her right hand. "Lord of dreams that terrify," she began. "Sword of cold and darkness, free yourself from the heavens' bonds."

Zelgadis immediately recognized the spell. "We'd better move back," he instructed the other two. Amelia and Gourry nodded and retreated a ways behind the trees.

"Become one with my power, one with my body, and let us walk the path of destruction together. RAGNA BLADE!" Lina called, holding her hands in front of her and clutching a lance of Nightmare energy.

"That spell!" gasped Sonjia, surprised at Lina's abilities for the first time. "That's a spell to call power from... from the Golden Dark Lord! Could it possibly work?" She watched intently. "Could the power of the Lord of Nightmares actually work?"

"That's a pretty impressive shield you've got there," Lina said. "However, no power in this world can stand against the power of the Lord of Nightmares."

Jadarin looked up and smiled confidently. "I don't care if it's the power of the Lord of Nightmares or the power of a sand flea. Power is power. And power means nothing to this."

"We'll see about that!" said Lina, slashing the Ragna Blade down onto his head. When it contacted the Mazoku's body, it stopped momentarily...

... Before fizzling out. "Um...?" was Lina's observation of this.

"Even the Ragna Blade is ineffective?" said Zelgadis in shock from behind a tree. "That shield must have practically infinite energy!"

"Or zero," commented Sonjia.

Zelgadis looked at her. "Pardon?"

Sonjia ignored Zelgadis's query and marched up to Lina. "Now hold everything! You can call on the power of the Lord of Nightmares? Jeez, how reckless can you get?!"

"Hey, it's not like I go flinging it around whenever I feel like it!" retorted Lina. "I know how dangerous it is! That's why I only use it when there's absolutely no other option! Because I certainly don't want the thing I'm trying to save the world with becoming the thing that ends it."

Sonjia backed away, eyes wide. Lina was almost as surprised as she was to see such an expression on that girl's face. "Lina..." Sonjia gasped. "You're..." She then finished dryly, "...being attacked."

Jadarin already had Lina by the shoulder, squeezing it roughly. "Impressive spell you've got there, Miss Inverse. But, you see, I've got one too." He then lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered, "Although, Sonjia doesn't believe that I can cast it. Shall we prove her wrong?"

Gourry put his hand on his sword. "What do you think you're going to do to her?"

"Not a whole lot," said Jadarin, looking up. "Just... this." He snapped his fingers again. Everyone minus Sonjia dropped their heads when this action once again seemed to do absolutely nothing.

However... "Isn't it wonderful?" said Jadarin, holding his fingers pinched in front of Lina's face. Lina blew air through her bangs, getting tired of his bluffing, but the breath caused something dangling from his from his fingers to sway and glint slightly. She suddenly noticed a very tiny, thin thread, no thicker than a hair clutched between his fingers.

"Do you know what this is?" Jadarin asked. "Well, no, I'd suppose you wouldn't. But you, along with everyone else, will get to experience it firsthand."

"What, you're giving me a lock of your hair as a going-away present?" Lina asked. "I'm not exactly flattered," she said, reaching out to absently brush the tiny thread thing away from her.

Jadarin smirked. "Go ahead. Touch it." There was nothing threatening about it. It was just a piece of silver thread. What could it possibly do?

Sonjia suddenly interrupted before Lina's hand could make contact. "That's not possible!" she shouted. "That's just a stupid fake! A look-alike! For all I know, that _is_ just a piece of your hair!" Her hands were clenched at her sides, trembling. "So, it doesn't matter if she touches it, because it won't kill her. Because it's just a fake! That spell isn't possible anymore! Isn't it? ISN'T IT?!"

Lina really only paid attention to that "kill her" part. She knew Sonjia knew something about Jadarin's spells, and she knew she was scared of them. This reaction seemed to be a combination of these. And if Miss Holier-Than-Thou was scared of it, perhaps it really could do some damage.

In a split second, Lina used her other hand to swipe a stick off the ground and swat it at the string. The effect was rather interesting. The string immediately wove itself into the very wood fibers, elongating and multiplying itself. Thousands of threads branched out from the original, covering the stick with a tight web of silver, until the stick itself appeared to be made of silver.

"This," said Lina, dropping the stick. "This has to be the spell you used on that town!"

"Of course!" said Jadarin. "Does Sonjia really believe that the death of that town was simply some leftover artifact from thousands of years ago, too?" he said, looking back at the person he spoke of and grinning.

"What... does this thing _do_?!" breathed Lina, examining the stick.

Jadarin wagged a finger. "Ah, that's...."

"...a secret," Xellos finished, perched on a branch. "I'd appreciate it if people stopped stealing my line. And I believe I shall end this once and for all." He pointed a finger and a lance of Mazoku power arced out from it. Jadarin put his hands on his hips and shook his head in annoyance... until he realized that he wasn't the one being targeted.

Sonjia didn't even see it coming. And by the time she did, it was far too late. The energy beam ripped a hole right through her chest, throwing her against a tree. She hit the tree with enough force to crack the trunk all the way through, causing the tree to topple forward on top of her once she hit the ground. Everyone else moved out of the way to avoid being hit by the falling tree.

Lina gasped in shock. Although she really had no soft spot for the girl, she also had no desire to see her killed. Lina was human, after all.

"Xellos!" shouted Lina. "Why did you do that?"

"My reason for following her out here has not changed," he stated simply. "Eliminate the traitor and all associates. If the traitor would not go down easily, perhaps the associate would." Xellos grinned as he said this.

Jadarin clenched a fist and growled. "Xellos! That was completely underhanded! She had no way to defend against you! No way to attack you!"

"If she worked alongside someone who could wipe out an entire town and defend against Lina-san's Ragna Blade, how was I supposed to know that?" Xellos asked innocently. "I am a Mazoku after all." He raised his arm. "However, now that I've taken her down, shall I try my luck on you again?"

Jadarin backed away, his confidence wavering. He instinctively checked over his abilities and options, when he realized, "It's still there?" He looked over at the fallen tree and focused on the power signatures more closely. He almost let out a sigh of relief and commented, "That stupid girl had me worried for a moment there. She may not be able to attack or defend worth anything, but she can heal like no one else."

Xellos noted where Jadarin's attention was focused and realized that there indeed was still a life force under the tree. This seemed particularly odd, given what he sensed when he first met her. That being absolutely nothing. Like she didn't even exist. But now, for some reason, there she was. And the energy signature he found now was quite unexpected.

Xellos opened his eyes in shock and lowered his arm. "So... that girl is... This changes everything." Deciding that regrouping would be the best option after this revelation, Xellos vanished from the tree.

Sonjia groaned and pulled herself out from under the tree like its physical force upon her didn't matter at all. When she stood up, everyone could see the hole in her chest. However, it wasn't bleeding at all, and was actually fluctuating and closing in on itself at a rather rapid pace.

"By the gods!" exclaimed Amelia. "She really _is_ a Mazoku!"

"Actually," said Sonjia, clutching her chest, "That first guess hit a little closer to home..." 

* * *


	9. Revelation! The Secret of the Silver Sp...

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 9  
Revelation! The Secret of the Silver Spell**

* * *

Lina paused dead for a moment, reeling in the implications of what Sonjia had just said. "Whoa, hold it!" she shouted, putting her hands up. "Are you telling us that you're a _god_?!"

Sonjia raised an eyebrow and snorted irritably. "A _god_? Jeez, first you accuse me of being a Mazoku, and now you're calling me a god? Boy, are you still barking up the wrong tree."

Lina actually sighed in relief. For once, she was more than happy to be wrong. "Well, that's good. With all the weird stuff that's been going on, the LAST thing I need is you turning out to be a god."

"I can quite assure you that I'm not a god," said Sonjia. "In actuality," she continued, patting her chest, which had fully healed, "I'm a godDESS. I haven't had an operation or anything. No trips to Sweden for me." Everyone fell over.

"What's in Sweden?" Gourry asked dumbly.

"You KNOW what I meant!" shouted Lina, ignoring Gourry's question. "You don't have to get us worked up over your stupid semantic nonsense!"

"It's hardly nonsense!" said Sonjia, crossing her arms. "It would be like me going around calling you a man." She paused on that thought and looked Lina up and down. "On second thought, maybe there isn't much difference with you."

It was at this comment that a rather heavy atmosphere descended upon the grove. Almost like the air had turned black, and put a dark cover over Lina's face. Everyone minus Sonjia realized where this was headed, and looked warily at the fire-haired sorceress, backing slowly away in fear.

And then, a single word escaped Lina's lips, no louder than a whisper, and no more pleasant than a growl: "Kill."

And the entire forest blew up.

After the smoke cleared a few moments later, the forest was completely gone, Gourry was half-buried with his legs sticking out of the ground, Zelgadis and Amelia were tangled in some charred brambles, and Sonjia was draped backwards over a melted rock.

"Haaaaa..." Sonjia coughed, as smoke came out of her mouth. "I'm sincerely grateful that was for comedic purposes, because if you'd actually meant it, it surely would'a killed me."

Lina didn't care and was grinning proudly over her handiwork. "Ahhh, that felt good! What with that dumb Mazoku absorbing all my spells, and your rather off-colored remark, I needed to get that off my back!"

"No fair!" said Gourry pulling himself out of the ground. "You didn't need to blow us up, too!"

"Speaking of that Mazoku," said Zelgadis, looking around, "where do you suppose he went off to?"

Amelia stood up and struck a pose. "Does it matter? If he shows up again, since Sonjia-san is a god, she can smash him with her divine hammer of Justice!"

"I'm not a god, I'm a goddess!" Sonjia warned. "And believe me, I can do just about diddly-squat against that guy. That's just how the power in my family was divided up: Defensive, Offensive, Recovery," she listed, pointing to her fingers as she said them. "I happen to be the latter. So, unless you expect me to heal him to death, you're on your own against him."

Lina pounded her head against a charred tree. "Great. It's Sylphiel with a superiority complex," she muttered.

"But this is still good!" chirped Amelia. "For even if we fall in battle against the forces of evil, with a god or healing at our side, we shall always rise again!" Trumpets started blaring triumphantly in the background, while everyone else looked around frantically, trying to figure out where the music was coming from.

"Goddess," Sonjia reminded again, irritated. "And my services aren't free, you know. Heck, why should I even bother wasting my energy on a bunch of lowly humans? Besides," she added, before Lina could blow her up again, "if that spell he's got is what I think it is, I can't heal you, anyway."

"And for the millionth time," said Lina, glaring at her, "What spell _is_ it?"

"It doesn't matter anyway, since you can't do anything about it!" Sonjia shot back.

Lina grabbed her by the collar. "Well, how 'bout letting us 'lowly humans' decide that for ourselves once we know what we're up against?"

There was a long silence. Almost agonizingly long. The wind blew through the charred clearing, and no one spoke, nor even moved. It was just a stare-down between sorceress and goddess. And, of all things, the sorceress appeared to be winning.

Finally, Sonjia lowered her head and smirked, letting out a little "Hmph." She looked back up, and actually smiled, seemingly understandingly. "You people... are just trying to survive, aren't you?"

Lina grinned back. "You bet we are." She released her grip on Sonjia's vest, who stumbled backwards a little.

"You intrigue me," said Sonjia. "My sister always wanted to protect humans, although I still haven't completely figured out why. But at least now... I think I've got it partially figured out."

"See?" said Lina, grinning. "We're not all that lowly and useless."

"A smidge," said Sonjia, pinching her thumb and index finger together. "I've got your usefulness figured out a smidge. A tiny, little, minuscule, itty-bitty, ever so minute amount."

Lina hung her head. "Well, I guess it's better than your opinion of us before."

"You still suck." Sonjia found herself flattened partway into the ground. "But, to humor you, I'll let you know what you want to know."

"You will do no such thing!" came a voice from above them. Jadarin had, obviously, not been incinerated by the explosion. Well, given his previous track record, this was a given. And he was now perched on a branch of one of the charred trees.

However, instead of being intimidated, Lina commented, "Um, I wouldn't stand there if I were..."

Snap. Such a result was to be expected. Now Jadarin had his claws dug into the trunk of the tree, which was still fairly sturdy. But if he had been hoping for a dramatic appearance, that wasn't the way to do it.

"Insolent little creatures," he muttered. "And I never expected Sonjia to agree to tell anyone about this particular spell. Especially after what everyone else has done to her to get her to cough it up."

"That's none of your business!" Sonjia shot back at him.

"And honestly," Jadarin continued, "doesn't this whole divulging of information seem rather dishonorable and dangerous?" He removed one of his hands from the tree. "We can't have that, now, can we?" He snapped his fingers and swung his arm to the side.

"That's that spell, isn't it?" said Lina, looking up. "But where is it? That little thread thing is so tiny, you'd never see it before it touches you!" Everyone else was frantically searching the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of a sparkle of silver. But it was useless. The thing would be floating down to their level any second now, and could kill any one of them.

"Simple solution," said Sonjia, clapping her hands. "Outta here."

And they all vanished.

* * *

Lina blinked, attempting to reorient herself. They had apparently just been teleported. Back to the outskirts of the dead town, actually.

"Sonjia-san just... saved us," said Amelia, somewhat surprised, in spite of herself.

"Don't let it get to your head," said Sonjia. "I just don't like anyone getting killed by that thing. It's a matter of principle."

Lina eyed her suspiciously. "And since when does teleportation fall under 'healing' powers?"

"Oh, gimme a break, I said that healing was my specialty. But there are a few abilities that I just have, simply because I'm a goddess. Mazoku have the same three basic abilities. Teleportation, levitation, and form shifts. You don't exactly 'specialize' in those things. It's like saying you specialize in breathing."

"That's nice," said Lina, waving off her excuse. "Why exactly did you bring us back here? Isn't this the most obvious place for us to go?"

"Well, yes, but it's also the safest," Sonjia reasoned. "We're trying to hide from a Mazoku, and no matter where we go, he can just use divining powers to find us. At least here, he won't be able to do that and would have to search around like anyone else."

"Why can't he do that here?" asked Amelia, still rubbing her eyes due to the sudden scenery change.

Sonjia motioned to one of the houses. "Just come in here, and I'll make good on my offer to explain this."

Lina eyed her suspiciously as she followed her in. "So what made you suddenly so willing to give us information?"

Sonjia flopped down into a chair. "Dunno. I guess it's because you're the least untrustworthy people I've met so far. And you're humans. You're not fighting a divine war for control of the planet. You're just caught in the middle of it. So, hopefully, whether you know this or not won't matter."

Amelia plopped down on the floor in front of her. "So, you're gonna tell us all about that Mazoku's power? And are you really a goddess?"

Zelgadis leaned against the far wall and glared coldly in Sonjia's direction. "We have no proof that what she says is the truth."

"I think she'll tell the truth," said Gourry.

"I'd rather have a fictitious explanation than no explanation at all," said Lina. She turned her attention back to Sonjia. "So, for starters, what sort of shield is that Mazoku using? And how did he kill everyone in this town? And what was with that ribbon of yours?"

"Magic Lock," Sonjia said simply.

Lina nodded. "And...?"

"And what? It's responsible for everything you just listed." Sonjia shrugged. "What more can I say?"

Lina sighed. "Well, first of all, you could explain to us exactly what this 'Magic Lock' is. What's with the dumb name, anyway?"

"We're Gods, not poets," replied Sonjia. "My sister just called it that because that's what it was. The thing doesn't even have an incantation, it's so simplistic."

"Oh, so you ARE a 'god' now," said Lina, mockingly.

"That's something completely different!" retorted Sonjia. "'God' refers to the race of Gods, while 'god' refers to a specific type of God. Sort of like how you are... well, sort of like how Amelia here is a girl, but of the race of Man."

"Like we can tell the capitalization difference when you're speaking!" retorted Lina. Then, a little flash of realization buzzed behind her head. "Hey, wait, what was that last comment...?"

"Forget it, forget it. Back to the original topic at hand," said Sonjia.

Lina eyed her dubiously for a moment and backtracked the conversation before it went off on a tangent. "So, it's a 'simplistic' spell, huh? How can it be simplistic, yet be versatile enough to shield against the Ragna Blade AND kill an entire town?"

"And that's where the aforementioned explanation comes in," said Sonjia. "I just hope I have time to tell all of it." She took a deep breath. "Okay.... It's like this... I just hope I don't regret telling you.

"Magic Lock is the reason behind the deaths in this town, that Mazoku's invulnerability, and my ribbon. My sister developed it... I'm not really sure when. Everything I know about it was relayed to me by her. And through my own experience of seeing the thing in action. She intended it to be a means to stop the war between the Gods an Mazoku without completely obliterating one of them.

"She wanted to create a shielding spell that was strong enough to withstand any attack from either side, but be simple enough to cast so that it could be used on a wide scale. If you can't hit anything, you can't really do a whole lot of damage. But she knew that such a shield would be impossible, because shields only defend against spells of equal or lesser power. And creating a shield to defend against any power in the world would require far too much energy. More than all the Gods combined had.

"But, it's amazing what a problem turns into when you disregard your greatest constraint. This being power. Her initial problem was that she needed a spell that worked regardless of the power thrown against it, so why not just disregard power entirely? That meant that the spell needed to work on a principle other than raw power. Instead, this spell works on energy."

Lina blinked. "What's the difference?" She then elbowed Gourry, who had begun to fall asleep.

"It's based on an analogy she used that gave the idea the name 'the drowning principle'. She said that no matter how strong you are, if you get pulled underwater, you drown. That's because anyone of any strength needs to breathe. And Magic Lock, in essence, makes spells unable to breathe. It drowns them, more or less. Power describes how strong a spell is. Energy is what keeps it going. So, instead of fighting against another spell's power, it just suffocates its energy.

"In more technical terms, the spell is practically zero energy. It acts like an energy vacuum, drawing energy in from the outside, rather than the caster. And since power is no longer a factor, it can absorb absolutely any spell."

Lina nodded. "So, I guess that explains his shield. But what about how he killed everyone in town? It's a defensive spell, right? Defensive spells don't kill people."

Sonjia's shoulders slumped. "This one does. It's not supposed to, but it was a side effect that she hadn't counted on....

"See, Magic Lock needs to be cast on something to actually do anything. It starts out as a minuscule thread, given a tiny amount of energy by the caster to actually make it exist. And when it touches an object, it immediately seizes that object's energy and expands itself to engulf the whole thing. Even inanimate objects have energy, simply because they exist.

"So, cast on a wall or shield, the spell was quite effective. No magical attack could ever get past something surrounded by an energy vacuum. And they're inanimate objects, so, besides the color change, you could never tell that they've had all their energy absorbed.

"But, for living things... the effects are more noticeable. Just like power is power, no matter what form it takes, so is energy. Whether it be magical energy, energy to exist... or life energy. Even soul energy. Like I said, as soon as this spell touches anything, bam, all that energy is gone. And I'm kind of under the impression that having your life and soul energy sucked into a void isn't all that pleasant. Unfortunately, my sister didn't realize it would have this effect on living things until after the matter."

Lina flinched a little, realizing that this is exactly what happened to the people in this town. Their souls, their very essence, just wiped out. She was beginning to see just why this spell was so dangerous.

"Granted," continued Sonjia, "Magic Lock will work on anything. Even Mazoku and Gods. The Mazoku and Gods, however, happen to be in a war to obliterate each other, which is what my sister was trying to stop when she initially created the spell. Instead, it had become both an impenetrable shield and a means of instant death. Obviously an easy victory for whichever side controlled it. Both sides tried different bargaining techniques, including... taking hostages... but in the end, my sister refused both."

"Why would she refuse the Gods?" asked Amelia. "Isn't she one of them? They should have worked together to smash the forces of evil!"

"She had a number of reasons, one being that the spell wasn't designed to kill anyone. She didn't want anyone using it for that purpose. The Gods weren't convinced and decided that she was a traitor to the race. They left my sister and their hostage in the care of the Gold Dragons, while the Mazoku ended up killing their hostage. But the Dragons still tried to negotiate, although in a much more... forceful manner than the Gods. And that's where the ribbon comes in."

Lina pointed out the bloodied blue ribbon still tied around Sonjia's wrist. "That isn't it, though, is it? Your ribbon was silver."

Sonjia looked at it. "Yes, actually, this is the ribbon. Although I really have no idea why the spell isn't on it anymore. There isn't a force in the world that can undo or defend against Magic Lock, since you can't really get rid of nothing."

"Maybe it wore off," Gourry said.

"That could be," said Sonjia, "But I don't know why it would. Maybe it only has a five thousand year warranty...

"Anyway, the third explanation you asked for was the ribbon. My sister cast Magic Lock on this ribbon so that no one could find her, so she could be free of the Dragons' captivity. The void that the spell creates affects whatever it is cast on plus whatever is directly touching it. It's just that someone touching an affected object doesn't get their energy absorbed. But they're still blocked by the void. Therefore, that person cannot use magic nor have any magic used on them. And, in this case, can not be tracked."

"This being the reason we came here," summarized Lina. "Jadarin can't track us here because the spell is on all the buildings, and we're surrounded by them."

"Oh, good, you figured that out on your own!" exclaimed Sonjia. "I was just about to explain that, but it looks like you're not as dim-witted as I suspected." Lina grumbled at Sonjia's apparent lack of faith in her intelligence. No wonder this explanation had been so agonizingly long. And she had a feeling that the "back story" segment wasn't done with yet.

"Moving on," continued Sonjia, as Lina sighed at her correct assumption, "Since my sister was gone, the Gold Dragons, in a supreme act of kindness, decided to release their hostage. On one condition. That I, being close to her, locate my sister and bring her back."

"Ohhh," said Gourry scratching his head. "You were their hostage?" he asked, having not figured this out yet until this point.

"Very good," said Sonjia, like she was just praising a dog for rolling over. "And, so that's how it was for quite a while. Eventually I was getting hounded by both sides for the whereabouts of my sister, how to use the spell, which I didn't know at that point, and a bunch of other mundane pieces of information that I was incapable of divulging.

"However, one day, my sister just sort of... resurfaced again. Out of nowhere, there she was in front of me. I swore to her that I would never tell anyone that I'd found her. At that point, she took me to a small underground laboratory where she had been hiding for the past number of years. She said she wanted to make sure I was protected, so, well..."

"... She hid you down in that lab and turned you to stone," Lina finished for her. "You were telling the truth all along...."

Sonjia nodded. "I had no idea how much time had passed when I was released. Heck, I didn't even realize I'd been turned to stone. But now that I actually knew something, I wasn't about to let anyone else know. Well, at least until I knew I could trust them not to destroy the world if they DID know."

"I don't buy it," said Zelgadis. "If that spell absorbs magic, why didn't it absorb the stone spell while tied to your wrist?"

"Always the skeptic, I see," said Sonjia, "Magic Lock is a void, you see. Nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Meaning nothing wears off. And if I can't use magic, I can't very well _break_ whatever spell is on me, now, can I? Me touch, my magic go bye bye. Other magic already there stay all the time," she over-simplified for the irritated chimera.

"Oh, so that's how you broke Xellos-san's levitation spell when you first met him!" said Amelia. "He touched the ribbon and lost his magic! Um, but he was holding it before, and it didn't do anything to him..."

"It doesn't work through clothes," Sonjia explained. "He was wearing gloves, so it didn't affect him. It only affects what it's touching directly."

Zelgadis shifted his position on the wall. "Speaking of Xellos, mind explaining _now_ how you saw through his act back in Sairaag?"

"You're blue," Sonjia said flatly.

Zelgadis fell over. "Pardon? So you've finally noticed, huh? But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Jeez, your brain must be made of rocks, too, stone boy," said Sonjia. "Me no use magic..." she began.

"And you can stop oversimplifying things," growled Zelgadis. "I'm quite capable of understanding normal speech."

Sonjia cleared her throat, and continued, "If I can't use magic and no magic can be used on me, I also can't sense it. See it, feel it, hear it, whatever. It sort of distorts reality. So, I could see through Xellos's magical disguise. And, since your condition obviously has magical sources, with the ribbon on, I could see and feel through that as well. But," she added, jabbing a fist at him, "like I said before, it doesn't work through clothes."

Zelgadis sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "Distorts reality, huh? Are you expecting me to believe a word of what you.... _Good Gods_!!!" he shouted, leaping forward.

"Goddess," Sonjia corrected.

"I had it capitalized," Zelgadis grumbled to himself. He shook his head to reorient himself from the sudden vision shift he'd had, while everyone else looked at him in confusion at his uncharacteristic outburst.

"Hmm, you touched the wall with your skin," Sonjia said. "The wall has the spell on it. Looks like you got a firsthand look at that 'reality distortion' effect."

"I.... what?"

"You saw through my human appearance," Sonjia stated bluntly.

* * *


	10. To Kill or be Killed! That is the Quest...

**Slayers: God's Blood Pt. 10  
To Kill or be Killed! That is the Question!**

* * *

So, they were just going to run, were they? Cowards. But smart cowards nonetheless. Jadarin had lost track of them as soon as they left. Obviously, they were using _that_ spell to conceal their whereabouts. That meant that they could be anywhere.

He hovered above the forest, scanning the horizon. "I never would have thought Sonjia would actually use the spell herself on a large enough scale to hide five people." He snorted to himself. "'Course, she's been trying to hide the fact that the spell even existed ever since its creator went into hiding. It's unlikely she would actually cast the spell herself."

Jadarin continued pondering yet another contradicting thought, though. "However, she _did_ use it to trap Xellos and get him to talk. At least she didn't ask any intelligent questions." He had already concluded that she was using Magic Lock to stay hidden. The only question was whether or not she cast the shield herself, or was using a pre-existing one. Apparently, she _was_ willing to use it as long as it didn't hurt anyone. Typical God behavior. Behavior that must be punished.

However, if she _didn't_ use the spell herself, there was really only one place to hide.

There was the town. Just outside forest, which had recently been reduced to cinders. The smoke had covered the sun, leaving a rather foreboding atmosphere around the area.

No, she wouldn't have gone very far. She was still unfamiliar with the place and time. She was in that town all right. And probably yakking up a storm about the Magic Lock. And a bit of personal history to get those humans to feel sorry for her. In the end, a very self-serving strategy that would ultimately get them nowhere.

He couldn't keep chasing her like this. An independent mind led to independent actions beyond his control. This would have to be rectified.

He'd have to kill her.

She had also apparently planned to tell those four travelers about the spell. One of whom happened to be Lina Inverse. Lina Inverse, the holder of the forbidden spells of the Lord of Nightmares. Lina Inverse, the one who single-handedly defeated Ruby Eye Shabranigdo. Lina Inverse, the human who should never be allowed to know too much.

Looks like the body count would have to rise a little higher before the grand finale.

Jadarin landed in the middle of town and surveyed the surroundings. It was quiet. Dead quiet. He pricked up his ears, flicking them from side to side, scanning for any sound. There it was. The dull chatter of a conversation about a block away.

"Gee, I wonder where they are?" he said to himself sarcastically as he walked over to the house the sounds were coming from. Magic Lock might have prevented him from sensing their energy, but it certainly wasn't sound-proof. They trusted that spell too much.

Pressing his ear against the door, he decided to eavesdrop a little before making his move. 

* * *

"Wow, I never really stopped to think that you might look different as a goddess!" said Amelia. "So what do you really look like?"

"It's not important," said Sonjia. "I don't exactly feel like being gawked at right now, thank you very much."

"So what? You have an alternate form. That still doesn't make you a goddess," said Zelgadis. "Besides, your story still has a few major flaws."

"You mean how Magic Lock can still be cast if my sister is dead?" Sonjia asked. Zelgadis blinked in surprise, then nodded.

"Maybe the Gold Dragons took it," suggested Lina. "There's a theory about transferring the power of a spell from one being to another that my sister told me a long time ago. She said that a God or Mazoku can willfully transfer their power to another of any race. But it had to be voluntary. Except if you find a way to kill the God or Mazoku, you can steal their power at the time of their death, since there's no longer any force holding onto it."

Sonjia stared at Lina in shock. "Who the heck was your sister if she knew something like that?!"

Lina fidgeted a little. "She's, uh, the Knight of Ceipheed....."

Sonjia looked at Lina warily. True, from her experience with the sorceress, she'd come to the understanding that Lina probably wasn't the type to try something like that. Which was one of the reasons she decided to trust her. Still, Sonjia had observed that Lina was also quite capable of killing her. She felt downright pathetic about having to be wary of a puny human like Lina.

Sonjia shook her head to rid herself of the thought of Lina seriously threatening her. "Anyway, yes, I think that's what happened. I think the Gold Dragons extracted my sister's power upon killing her. So that's why the spell is still able to be cast."

"But if they've had the spell this whole time, why haven't they used it?" asked Amelia. "It seems like something the Gold Dragons would want to make good use of if they'd kill one of their own for it."

"They must have wanted it pretty badly," said Gourry. "People who want my Sword of Light don't usually try to kill me for it."

"Oh, poor Gourry!" said Lina. "I know! You can just give the sword to me, and then everyone will stop hassling you for it!"

"I've already said 'no' to you about a hundred times," said Gourry.

Lina shrugged. "Can't blame a girl for trying. Anyway," she said, returning to the matter at hand, "what we've hypothesized so far is that the Gold Dragons may have control of the spell. But if they did, they would have used it by now, and it's obvious they haven't, since we're not exactly having a Mazoku shortage."

"Maybe they don't know how to use it," suggested Gourry, having a lot of experience in that field.

Lina smacked herself on the forehead. "Gourry, would you please stop coming up with the obvious explanations? They're making us smart people look like idiots."

"Sorry," said Gourry.

"Before we hypothesize any more about Dragons and such, don't you think we should take care of that Mazoku that's been pestering us?" Zelgadis reasoned. "Other than Sonjia, he's the only one who knows the spell who can be considered a threat."

Sonjia lowered her eyes at him. "Oh, thanks."

"Right!" said Lina, flexing her arms. "First thing's first. Now that we know how his spell works, we'll blast that Mazoku into tiny pieces! ... Is what I'd like to say, but basically all we've learned is that there's no way to hit him."

"Sure there is," Sonjia interjected.

All eyes went to her. Lina grabbed her by collar. "Oh _now's_ a fine time to tell us that! So spill already!"

Before Sonjia could speak, there was a knock at the door. Everyone froze.

"Maybe it's Xellos-san...?" Amelia ventured.

"Hello?" came a voice from the other side. "I have a large pizza here for a Miss Lina Inverse. Sorry, I couldn't make it in under a half hour, so the pizza's free."

"It's about time!" shouted Lina excitedly. "Finally! Food!" She bolted for the door.

"Lina-san, wait! It's gotta be a trap!" Amelia called after her, stating the obvious.

But Lina's hunger had overridden her logic, and she hastily opened the door to relieve the pizza boy of his burden. Of course, I think we can all guess who was at the door instead.

Jadarin smirked at Lina's horrified expression when she realized who he was. "Special delivery." He swung one arm up, catching Lina full in the stomach and sent her sailing across the room, only to smash into the wall on the other side.

"Lina-san!" Amelia shouted, running to her aid.

"What? No tip?" said Jadarin, blocking the door, which was conveniently the only way out. Zelgadis and Gourry drew their swords and prepared for a battle in close quarters. Sonjia still sat in the chair, shaking her head in annoyance.

Lina stood up unsteadily, leaning on Amelia. "What do you want from us, Jadarin?" she asked.

"Your lives, of course," he explained. "She told you about the spell, I noticed. You see, that's no good. Big, fat, glaring Rule Number One," he said, holding up his index finger, "NEVER tell anyone about the spell. And anyone who does know about it," he continued, lowering his arm slowly, "dies."

"We won't let you hurt anyone else!" shouted Gourry, charging forward with his sword. Jadarin flicked his chopstick forward like a dart, hitting Gourry in the forearm. Gourry winced, but still slashed his sword down on Jadarin's head. Unfortunately, it just passed right through without leaving a mark.

Once the sword had passed through, Jadarin grabbed Gourry by the arm to retrieve his chopstick. He then kicked Gourry in the stomach, sending him crashing to the ground.

"And you've been with Lina Inverse HOW long? Really, you people should know that swords do not work against Mazoku. You can't even scratch me like that."

"Better try the Sword of Light next time," suggested Zelgadis.

"And now that you've conveniently trapped yourselves in here," said Jadarin, raising his hand, "hitting you shouldn't be too much trouble."

They needed some way to escape. But they seemed to have flat run out of options. Swords and magic wouldn't work against him, and they couldn't blow down one of the walls to make a makeshift exit, since all the walls were magic-proof. The only way out was through the door.

Lina stepped forward, a stern look on her face. "I know we can't get around you or through you," she said. "So I have a different idea."

Jadarin stepped back a bit. True, it could just be a bluff to get his guard down, but there was still the minute possibility that there was something that she knew of that would work against him. He couldn't think of anything at the moment, but that didn't mean...

"I do believe we shall go... under you!" She slammed her palm to the dirt floor, which hadn't been affected by the spell. "Dug Haut!"

A pillar of rock erupted from beneath Jadarin's feet and skyrocketed upward, taking him with it. The stone pillar slammed into the ceiling, pinning him against it. And since the ceiling was Locked, he couldn't use magic to dislodge himself.

"It worked!" cheered Lina. "I had a feeling indirect magic like that would have some effect on him."

"Bravo," said Zelgadis. "But now what?" he said, motioning to the door, which was now blocked by the large stone pillar.

"Um, Damu Bras?" said Lina, throwing a handful of magical grapeshot at the pillar, disintegrating it. "Just run! Ask questions later!" The five beat a hasty retreat over the rubble while Jadarin reoriented himself.

"Curse you, Lina Inverse!" he shouted after them. He pulled himself out from under the fallen column and pursued.

"Guys, we should split up," said Lina. "Sonjia, go with Gourry and Amelia to the other side of town. Zel and I will keep going this way."

"I'll go with them... but not because you told me to," Sonjia replied.

"Oh, whatever," Lina grumbled. "Just don't get caught or killed or something." The five parted ways into their respective groups of two and three.

"Okay, Zel," said Lina, "it looks like about all we can do right now is throw rocks at the guy. And since earth Shamanism is your specialty, I'm counting on you to find a way to--"

"Lina, why the heck did you do that?" Zelgadis interrupted. "You sent 'Miss Goddess' with the two people who are too dense to see through her act! She'll end up getting them killed!"

"Zel, have a little faith!" Lina retorted. "It's gotten to the point that there's a good chance that she's actually telling the truth. Her explanation does seem to fit everything that's happened so far."

"Except her ribbon," he stated flatly.

Lina blinked in confusion. "What about it?"

"It changed color," he explained. "Not just from silver to blue, but silver to _red_. Red from blood. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Gods bleed. Especially not from wounds inflicted by swords."

Lina rubbed her chin in thought. "I... guess you have a point there. But she didn't bleed when Xellos blasted that hole through her chest. What was different about that?"

Zelgadis shrugged. "Physical versus magical damage, maybe?"

Lina shook her head. That couldn't be it. All through this entire escapade, both God and Mazoku weren't getting hurt when they should have, and getting hurt when they shouldn't have. Sonjia had gotten a cut on the arm and couldn't heal it, even though she claimed to specialize in recovery magic. Then later, she got a hole blown through her chest, and that healed right away. But why couldn't she heal....?

Lina's eyes widened. "That's it! You can't heal it!" she exclaimed in realization.

"Pardon?" said Zelgadis.

"That's gotta be how you defeat this guy!" she said excitedly. "The spell blocks and disables all magic! Which means all you have to do is--"

Unfortunately, she wasn't able to finish that thought, as a fireball erupted behind her, throwing her and Zel apart. Through the clearing smoke, Jadarin stalked towards them.

"Lina Inverse..." he growled. "I think it's time to shut you up for good..." He raised his hand and unleashed another fireball.

Lina rolled out of the way and shouted, "Zel, get him! He's using magic, so his shield must be down!"

Jadarin spun around and whipped out his chopstick just before an Elmekia Flame caught him in the back. But he was too quick, and the spell evaporated as soon as it hit him.

"So, I see you've worked out a little strategy against me. But it will do you no good," he remarked. "I see my hunch was right on target that you have a knack for figuring things out. Unfortunately, the only place you'll take that knowledge is to the grave."

Lina crossed her arms defiantly. "So what are you going to do? As soon as you drop your shield to cast a spell at me, Zel can hit you with a spell of his own. And if you try attacking him first, well, then you've still got _me_ to deal with."

Jadarin lowered his head and smiled menacingly. "Who ever said I was going to kill you with magic...?" He tucked his chopstick into his pants to free his hands, and got ready to pounce.

Lina gulped. She hadn't counted on this. Jadarin growled and leapt into the air at her. Lina scrambled out of the way just as his claws hit the ground where she had been standing.

"Never underestimate the usefulness of brute strength!" he shouted, remaining on all fours like some sort of demented lion.

"Uh, Zel?" said Lina, expectantly, while running behind him.

"Two steps ahead of you, Lina," he replied, palm outstretched. "Infinite earth, mother who nurtures all life. Let thy power gather in my hand! Vlave Howl!" he chanted, slamming his hand into the ground.

A geyser of mud and soil erupted from the street, forming into a projectile ball. Jadarin looked up at the incoming mudball and commented, "That could be problematic."

The mudball slammed into the ground and hardened instantly, creating a stone shell around everything it hit.

"Go Zel!" cheered Lina. "If Sonjia could be encased in stone, then so can he!"

Zelgadis snorted indifferently. "He wasn't so much of a problem after all. That was hardly worth the effort and excitement."

"Sorry to disappoint!" said Jadarin, one second before he bodyslammed Zelgadis from the air, smashing him into a building across the street. "That mud spell of yours would have been problematic IF it could hit something that wasn't slow-moving nor confined to the ground."

He left Zelgadis embedded in the wall and turned to face Lina. "Now, do you happen to have anything interesting to try on me?"

Lina thought a moment. "Well, I might be able to--"

"Too late!" said Jadarin, springing forward and clutching her by the neck. "I just need to snap your neck, and this'll be over quickly and easily."

Lina coughed and tried to swallow. "Whatever happened to Mazoku tormenting their victims before killing them?"

Jadarin shrugged. "I don't like it."

Lina's eyes widened. What did he mean, "I don't like it"? That was like a fish saying it didn't like water. The very essence of Mazoku resided in causing pain, fear, and aggression. It was what they were made of. And this one says... "I don't like it"? She knew there was something weird about him when he demonstrated his ability to cast spells not of his own power, but this was just completely... non-Mazoku-like.

Jadarin clutched her neck tighter. "Next time keep your nose out of things." With that, he swung her around and threw her full force against a wall. There was a crack, and it was obvious that that had broken her arm, and maybe cracked a few ribs. Lina fell and slumped backwards against the base of the wall.

"Have a nice death," he commented, wiping his hands together. Lina groaned and coughed up a little bit of blood.

"Wow, even that didn't kill you? They must make humans a lot tougher these days." He looked at her for a moment, scratching the back of his neck. "That looks like it hurts a lot. Best to relieve you of the pain now." He lunged forward at her crumpled form, claws bared.

"Astral Vine!" Apparently, Zelgadis hadn't been out for the count, either. He parried Jadarin's claws with the enchantment on his sword. And since Zelgadis's spell was already cast and in effect, Jadarin's shield couldn't break it.

Jadarin growled and clutched Zelgadis's sword's blade, attempting to snap it in two. However, he ended up appearing to to more damage to himself than the sword. He pushed Zelgadis back and backed away angrily. And, at that point, Zelgadis noticed... blood? From a Mazoku? Caused by a sword? It was just like with Sonjia, but why?

"Your actions truly annoy me," said Jadarin, dropping his chopstick and snapping his fingers. Zelgadis was about to charge, seeing the opening now that his shield was down, but remembered that snapping one's fingers was the action to bring about the Magic Lock spell. And, if it really was all that Sonjia claimed it was, it was definitely NOT a good idea to go charging in. Or even be in that locale.

Zelgadis clenched his teeth in frustration an sheathed his sword. With a Magic Lock bearing down upon him somewhere, retreat was the only option. He grabbed Lina and snapped a Raywing bubble into place, flying away.

"Run all you like, but I will not rest until I have killed that girl!" Jadarin shouted after them, picking up his chopstick. He spread his wings and began pursuing. Realizing at this point that no one would be casting any spells at him, he dropped his shield and charged up a fireball. "Crash and burn time," he chuckled, letting the fireball loose.

Zelgadis didn't know what hit him. Actually, he did know what hit him. A fireball. He just wasn't expecting it. It caused him to lose his Raywing spell, and both he and the injured Lina went crashing to the ground on the edge of a ditch outside of town.

"Ow..." moaned Lina. She tried to open her eyes, and the first thing she saw was a pair of bat wings and black claws descending upon her.

"Lina!" Zelgadis shouted. But it was too late. Jadarin was already on her, his claws easily piercing her flesh.

"Listen well, Inverse, the chase only ends when you are dead," he growled, digging his claws deeper into her arms. Lina tried to cry out, but her broken ribs made it hard to even breathe. And she was far too weak to even fight back. Which meant if he hit her again like he did before, he could very well kill her. But what could she or Zel do now?

"Don't worry. Your friends will join you soon," said Jadarin. He picked Lina up and threw her against Zelgadis. "And getting you both at once will be much simpler." He put his hands together and let loose a highly concentrated blast that caught Lina in the chest, sending both her and Zelgadis flying into the ditch behind them.

Zelgadis groaned from the impact and tried to get up, but realized Lina was crumpled on top of him. She wasn't moving, and was bleeding from several wounds and char marks. He shakily raised a hand and checked her neck for a pulse, then noticed Jadarin standing above them, ready to hit them with another fireball.

Zelgadis dropped his hand and called up hoarsely, "Don't bother wasting your energy."

Jadarin paused just for a moment to hear an explanation for this. "And why shouldn't I?"

Zelgadis sighed. "Because..... Lina Inverse.... is dead."

* * *


	11. The Ways of the World! They're Not What...

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 11  
The Ways of the World! They're Not What You Think**

* * *

Twitch twitch.

Sonjia couldn't take much more of this. Her face twitched in annoyance as she continued to experience what she assumed to be Lina's wrath. "Curse you, Lina Inverse…" she muttered. "And I was beginning to think that you were easing up on me. But now I see why you sent me with these two."

Amelia had gone into what was quite possibly the longest justice speech on record. And it was directed at Sonjia.

"Sonjia-san," Amelia continued, "now that you have revealed yourself as a goddess, we take a great honor in allowing you to help us fight this evil! For you are a being of the highest form of justice, and I know that it is your duty to aid us on this mission! And even though your own comrades betrayed you, you still refuse to turn against them! With our mighty powers combined, we shall smash the wicked with the swift sword of--"

"ALL RIGHT!! THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" Sonjia shouted, clutching her head. "Shut up…" she whispered. "Just shut up."

"Oops, I guess I did get a little carried away, didn't I?" Amelia said cheerily. "Anyway, now we know what we have to do."

"So, she's really gonna help us this time?" Gourry asked.

"Of course she is!" said Amelia proudly. "She's a goddess, the pinnacle of goodness, and it is her duty in the world to defeat those who are unjust."

"Do you really believe that?" said Sonjia, her voice shaking.

Amelia scratched her head, confused. "Sure I believe that. The Gods are the good guys, and the Mazoku are the bad guys. And in the end, the Gods must vanquish the forces of evil for everyone to go on living! That's how the world works, isn't it?"

Sonjia's shoulders shook with anger and frustration. "No…. that's not how the world works. Not at all…" She sighed. "But... you're humans. You're not directly involved in the war. And since defeating an enemy is not your one driving obsession, I thought maybe you people could see things more clearly."

All she got was a vacant blink from Gourry, and a confused look from Amelia.

"Right. I'm talking to the wrong people here," said Sonjia, sweatdropping. "But, from what I've pieced together in my time away from the war, I'd say there's something more important than eliminating evil."

"Is this one of those 'Secret of the Universe' sort of things?" Gourry asked.

"Actually, it's more of the correlation between positive and negative forces and the balance that needs to be maintained between them," Sonjia said, sitting down and leaning her head against a wall. She then realized that she had completely lost them on that one.

Amelia slowly sat down in front of her. "Um… since the Mazoku isn't chasing us right now, maybe you could explain that a little. And use smaller words."

Sonjia looked at Amelia, who was expectantly awaiting her lesson on the workings of the world. "You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you something, are you?" Amelia nodded happily.

"What do I look like, a walking textbook?" She crossed her legs and reclined against the wall with her arms behind her head. "You people wouldn't understand, anyway. It would be like talking to thin air. What good would telling you two do anyone, anyway?"

Gourry grinned. "My grandma always told me that if you've got something you need to say, you should say it! Even if it's to no one, at least you'll get it off your back."

Sonjia looked at the sky and sighed. "I really hope my sister isn't out there somewhere haunting me, because she'd probably be rather irate about my opinion, since it directly contradicts everything she's worked for." She snorted. "But you can see where that work led her. That's why I think she was wrong."

"So, who was your sister, anyway?" wondered Amelia. Sonjia had a habit of referring to this particular person, but never gave much detail as to who exactly she was or what she was like.

"Does it really matter?" Sonjia shot back. "She's dead now, and if it weren't for those stupid Dragons, that blasted spell would've died with her, just like all the wards on the lab I was sealed in did. And now that Mazoku somehow gained the ability to use it, and'll end up destroying the world with it!" She lowered her head. "At least my world will have company."

Amelia and Gourry both blinked in surprise. "Your world?" Amelia asked. "You mean you're not from this world?"

Sonjia raised an eyebrow. "Funny, I thought you considered that already. I thought for sure that one of Zelgadis's accusations would be that I can't be a goddess because the only Gods in this world are Ceipheed and his elemental dragon counterparts." Receiving blank looks from Amelia and Gourry, Sonjia concluded, "I guess that hadn't even crossed your minds."

"So, how come your world will have company? Is it having a party?" Gourry asked.

Sonjia stood up. "It got destroyed, you moron!" she shouted. "The war ended, and thus the world ended!"

Amelia's eyes got all teary. "Awww, poor Sonjia-san! Your Gods got beaten by the Mazoku!"

"Nope!" said Sonjia, holding up a finger. "Our Mazoku got beaten by the Gods. Or so said my sister."

Amelia raised an eyebrow. "'So said my sister'? Weren't you there, too?"

Sonjia froze for a moment, seemingly unsure as to how to reply to that. It seemed like a simple enough question to answer. After a few seconds, Sonjia crossed her arms and looked away, saying, "Well, sure I was there! I mean, I must have been, right? I just don't remember any of it!"

"I didn't know a God forgot things," observed Gourry, confused.

Sonjia had always been a little distraught that her memory only extended as far back as her arrival in Ceipheed's world. Or, rather, her regaining consciousness in it. But she wouldn't allow these humans to know how much her apparent amnesia bothered her, so she continued, "My sister told us that the Gods won the war. But, it doesn't really matter, since the result is the same either way."

"Why is that?" wondered Amelia. "It seems like if the Gods won, everything would be happy, and there would be no more evil."

"Well, there's no more evil, I'll give you that," said Sonjia, sitting back down. "But there's no anything else, either. The reason is quite simple." She looked up, trying to find some sort of demonstration. Finding nothing interesting, she shrugged and whacked Gourry over the head.

"Owww! What was that for?" moaned Gourry, clutching the lump that had sprung up on his head. "You've been hanging around Lina too long."

"A simple point to be made," said Sonjia. "Everything in the world exists in pairs where one can not exist without the other. In this case, I hit you and you hurt. Action and reaction. Cause and effect. And so forth. And you can't have one without the other."

"So you're saying that you can't have Gods without Mazoku?" asked Amelia, wondering how that could be possible.

Sonjia blinked at the unexpected logical response from the little princess. "Yes, that's right. And, more importantly, nothing can exist at all without the war."

"Sonjia-san!" Amelia said, getting up and clenching her fists. "Wars are evil! They only destroy, not create!"

Sonjia shrugged. "Not at all. When two opposing forces meet, there is quite the release of energy. In this case, the constant clashing between good and evil, creation and destruction, sustains the energy that keeps reality in place. If it were to suddenly stop, then reality as we know it would fall apart."

"How do you know that for sure?" asked Amelia. "You said that you weren't there--"

"Don't remember being there," corrected Sonjia.

Amelia sighed at the goddess's incessant need for absolute correctness. Well, that WAS what the Gods were striving for, she supposed. But did she have to go about it so arrogantly? "Have no memory of the end of your world," amended Amelia, "How do you know that's what actually happened? You already said you don't agree with what your sister said. So maybe she was wrong about the Gods winning, too."

"Actually, this was something my brother and I devised," Sonjia said, proudly.

At this revelation, even Gourry figured that any explanation from here on out should be taken with a grain of salt. But, neither said anything to this extent.

"The energy released by this war sustains the Barrier," said Sonjia. "This Barrier is what you people often refer to as 'the fine line' between two opposing forces, such as good and evil. As long as this Barrier exists, naturally, the two sides of it exist as well."

For further demonstration, Sonjia picked up a stick and drew a circle in the dirt. "Now, see there? There is clearly a part inside the circle and outside the circle. And what makes the distinction? The line defining the circle. It separates inside from outside. And if you try to eliminate one, well," she swiped her hand across the dirt, wiping out the circle, "you have to eliminate the Barrier as well, which in turn eliminates the other. In the end you're left with something that can neither be called inside nor outside."

Amelia and Gourry nodded. "So?"

Sonjia fell over. "Sooo... This demonstrates that neither of you understand analogies! But... to humor you, I'll extend this definition to the war. See, if you eliminate the Mazoku, you also eliminate the Barrier differentiating the Gods from the Mazoku. So, _either way_, the world is returned to Chaos."

Gourry poked his finger to his temple and thought. "Hmmmm, I think Lina said that the Mazoku were trying to make the world all Chaos, or something. But you said the Gods are trying to do that too... ummm..."

"Actually, the Gods are fighting to keep the Mazoku from winning, not to win themselves. At least... that's how it was originally supposed to work. But I think the Gods have lost sight of their objective, and only see the war," said Sonjia.

"So, if the Mazoku will win no matter who wins, why don't they just give up?" wondered Amelia.

Sonjia clapped her hands together. "Thank L-sama that she created the Mazoku with such tenacity that such a cowardly maneuver would be entirely unthinkable for them! It's the very fact that neither side gives up and continues fighting that keeps everything existing. As I said before."

"Okay!" said Gourry cheerily.

"You understand now, huh?" said Sonjia.

"Not one bit!" Sonjia fell over, as Gourry retained his clueless smile. "But I think you're saying that fighting makes people happy! That makes no sense, but okay!"

Amelia thought a little harder. "No, I guess she's saying that it would be bad to stop the war between the Gods and Mazoku. Except that Jadarin could end the war himself with Sonjia-san's spell by killing all the Gods. Right?"

"Almost. It's not _my_ spell, little girl," corrected Sonjia. "Don't go blaming ME for this. I had nothing to do with it."

"But if you've got nothing to do with it, why's that Mazoku guy chasing you?" pointed out Gourry. He then looked around. "And for that matter, why is he _not_ chasing us right now?"

Amelia looked back up the road, worriedly. "Lina-san... Zelgadis-san... They might be in trouble."

Sonjia shrugged. "Hey, as long as it leads the trouble away from me, I don't really care."

"Sonjia-san!" Amelia shouted, turning around. "Why don't you care at all? Most humans are good and just, and look up to the Gods!"

"And if you humans have to look up to us, we naturally have to look down on you," Sonjia reasoned. "Gods don't take nearly as much interest in human affairs as Mazoku do. Honestly, before you met me, how many Gods did you run into? Comparatively, how many Mazoku?"

Well, Amelia knew she'd certainly run into her share of Mazoku. She tried to list them all off from memory. "Well, there was Tiiba-san in Rezo's lab. And... Saygram. Oh, and those nasty Mazoku, Kanzel and Mazenda. They tried to overthrow my Daddy! They were so mean! Then there was that big mask Mazoku in the temple. And that puppet Mazoku, Joe. Umm... then that water Mazoku, Evia, tried to hurt Zelgadis-san, but he blew him up with a Ra Tilt of Justice!"

Sonjia hadn't expected the list to be quite THIS long. And Amelia was apparently still on a roll.

"Then, of course, there was Xellos-san. And then Maryuuou Gaav showed up. He was really scary. And when Lina-san got to look at the Claire Bible, those two little orb Mazoku tried to fight us, but we defeated them with the Hammer of Justice! And then Hellmaster Phibrizzo kidnapped Gourry-san, so we had to go to Sairaag to fight him. And then... is the Lord of Nightmares a Mazoku?" wondered Amelia, having finally gotten to the end of her list.

Sonjia's jaw dropped. Half in surprise that Amelia had met this many Mazoku and _lived_, and half in surprise that one of them was apparently the Lord of Nightmares herself. No, Amelia must've just been listing off Mazoku she'd _heard_ of. Honestly, Maryuuou Gaav? Hellmaster Phibrizzo? No human would have a fighting chance against them. "Okay, so that's all the Mazoku you've 'met'. How about Gods? Excluding me, what Gods have you encountered?"

Sonjia was awaiting a null answer, when Amelia cheerily piped up, "Aqua-baachan! She was the spirit of the Water Dragon King! She showed Lina-san where the Claire Bible was!"

Okay, now Amelia _had_ to be lying. Why would the Water Dragon King, a direct incarnation of Ceipheed himself, waste his time on some lowly human like Lina Inverse? Oh well, it still made a point. "Even so, your Mazoku-to-God encounter rate is apparently twelve to one, excluding the Lord of Nightmares," said Sonjia sarcastically, just to humor the princess.

"Although Lina-san has met more Mazoku than me," added Amelia.

"Yeah, I think there were a couple of really powerful ones that she defeated before we met you," added Gourry. "What was that one really big, ugly one's name again?"

Ohhh, they were just _trying_ to come up with stuff to brag to a God about. This was becoming less and less believable by the second. What was next, Lina defeating the Dark Lord Shabranigdo all by herself?

"That's right, Shaba-dingo! Or something! Yeah, Lina blew him up, and her hair turned all white," said Gourry.

Thud. This was just too ridiculous for Sonjia to remain standing. "Anyway," interrupted Sonjia, before they could make up some story about Lina time-travelling to defeat even more Mazoku, "my POINT being that the Gods don't give a troll's loincloth about you humans."

"I don't think you speak for all of them. Especially not all of them of THIS world," countered Amelia. "They're probably just really busy."

"Shouldn't we go see what happened to Lina and Zel?" asked Gourry. "I'm getting kinda worried."

"Right!" said Amelia, clenching her fist. "Sonjia-san, if they got hurt, you should come to, since you said you're a healer."

Sonjia threw her arms in the air. "Yippee, I'm a healer. And this suddenly makes me obligated to help you? If that Mazoku used the Magic Lock on them, there's nothing I could do, anyway! So you two can go running off to get your souls ripped out, for all I care. I'm staying right here!" she concluded, turning around and crossing her arms.

Amelia, burning with righteousness, wasn't going to take "no" for an answer this time. Besides, that Mazoku was still after Sonjia for some unknown reason, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good. And since Sonjia had no way to defend herself, it would be better if they stuck together. Gourry seemed to be thinking the same thing, although probably not quite as coherently or thoroughly.

Amelia and Gourry nodded to each other, and took Sonjia by each of her arms, dragging her down the road.

"Hey, unhand me!" she demanded, digging her heels into the dirt. "This is no way to treat divinity!"

"Don't worry, Sonjia-san!" exclaimed Amelia. "We'll show you that helping people can be fun, too!"

"Not if it means risking my own neck to do so!" retorted Sonjia, snagging a pole with her foot as they walked by it. The sudden jerk backwards caused Amelia to lose her grip on her arm, and Sonjia immediately hugged that arm around the pole as well.

Amelia sweatdropped. "Sonjia-san, it doesn't have to be this difficult, does it?" Honestly, the goddess was acting more like a pouty kid.

"Not going!" retorted Sonjia again, holding the pole firmly, while Gourry tugged on her other arm. Since she was touching the pole, which conveniently had the spell on it, she had also lost any physical strength associated with being a God, but her will to make things difficult allowed her to hold fast.

Amelia sighed and looked back down the road while Gourry continued attempting to pry the stubborn goddess off the pole. "Well, I just hope Lina-san and Zelgadis-san are okay." 

* * *

Jadarin looked curiously at Zelgadis, still holding his fireball. "Dead, you say?"

Zelgadis lowered his head. "Yes, I said she's dead. You won…. You killed her," he whispered.

Jadarin raised an eyebrow. "So, you can notice that much, huh? However, can you notice a couple other things?"

"Like?" wondered Zelgadis, hesitantly, with a nervous twinge to his voice.

"What am I?" asked Jadarin. "I'm a Mazoku, that's what. And do you know what I'm holding in my hand? That's right, a fireball. Meaning that I am currently capable of using magic. Meaning I am also currently capable of sensing and manipulating energy."

"Damn," whispered Zelgadis to himself. "He noticed."

"You bet I did," said Jadarin, picking up on Zelgadis's curse. "So, even though what you just said might have thrown a _human_ adversary for a loop, I will not be so easily fooled." He pointed down at them. "Lina Inverse is alive, all right, although just barely. Come now," he said, holding the fireball over his head, "let me release the pain."

Zelgadis coughed. Well, Jadarin had said that the chase would end when Lina Inverse was dead, so it was worth a shot. He just hadn't expected his assailant to be _that_ observant. Usually the arrogance of overwhelming power blinded people beyond noticing the obvious.

In fact, it always did. Meaning that this guy _must_ still have some sort of exploitable weakness if he was still making himself that aware of his surroundings.

What he had said about Lina being alive was also true. She was still lying on him, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps. If a miracle didn't happen soon, his lie could turn into the truth.

"You know," said Jadarin. "These fireballs have failed to kill you numerous times already. Instead of saving the ultimate weapon as a last resort, might as well use the sure thing right now to get it over with."

Oh, good gods, anything but _that_.

Jadarin snapped his fingers, preparing a Magic Lock spell. Except… nothing happened. Jadarin blinked and checked for his chopsticks making sure they weren't touching his skin. No, they were safe in his pocket. He snapped again, and still nothing happened. "Why that little..." he muttered.

He'd made a mistake. In his rage after what Lina Inverse had done to him, he'd gone after her first. In all reality, it was Sonjia whom he most needed to subdue. She was the final piece he needed, and once he had her, those pesky humans were his for the killing.

Grumbling, and now completely ignoring Lina and Zelgadis, Jadarin spread his wings and flew back into town.

Zelgadis breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't know the reason, apparently the miracle came after all. He thanked whoever the God was who had smiled upon them.

And then immediately revoked his thanks when he realized that, judging by Jadarin's reaction, said God was most likely Sonjia.

Even so, they'd only escaped one danger. They were both wounded, Lina much more seriously so than Zelgadis. Zelgadis didn't know any very potent healing spells himself, as he never expected himself to get terribly injured because of his condition. He would probably pull through, but Lina was another matter. If only Amelia were here.

If Amelia were here, she probably would have been killed. She wasn't nearly as physically strong as the others, and wouldn't have survived the kind of abuse Jadarin dished out. Zelgadis's stone body had saved him from much more serious injury. Lina had no such protection.

Zelgadis stood up, careful not to move Lina any more than necessary. He clutched his left leg as he put weight on it. Standing was a lot more painful than he was expecting. He tried Levitation to lessen the pressure on his legs, but realized that the battle had exhausted a good amount of his energy. It looked like he was in no position to go anywhere.

Which was just as well, because Lina was in no position to be moved, and needed tending to. He may have been cold but he wasn't downright heartless. Especially to someone he'd spent two years travelling with. Whether or not those years were good experiences for him was another matter, but at least they were... interesting. Plus, Lina had an exceptional habit of pulling through, even when the situation was as grim as this. And if she found out he'd ditched her in this condition... Zelgadis would almost prefer having his life forced sucked into a void than face Lina's wrath.

Lina groaned although still unconscious. Well at least that was a somewhat positive sign. "You…. can't…. heal it…" she muttered.

'Gee, thanks,' thought Zelgadis. Her opinion of his healing abilities was... about the same as his opinion of them.

"You… can't…. heal it…" Lina repeated. "Hurt… without magic…. Can't…. heal it…"

Okay, now she was making no sense. He hoped it wasn't the delirium of a dying person, since that just made him feel... not good. But it didn't matter _how_ he and Lina had gotten hurt, he still couldn't heal it.

Wait a minute. "Can't heal it"? Lina had said that shortly before they were attacked, concerning how to fight this Mazoku. Then what did "Hurt without magic" mean? You can't hurt a Mazoku without magic! Their astral bodies just allow them to heal themse......

Zelgadis's eyes widened in realization. "Is that what you meant, Lina?" he said half to her, half to himself. "If the shield disables all magic, does that mean he can't heal or defend himself if he gets attacked physically?"

Zelgadis looked at his sword. When he had used his sword against Jadarin earlier, it appeared to have hurt him. But Gourry had attacked Jadarin by sword as well, and it didn't do anything. Wait, but Jadarin had thrown his chopstick, so he no longer had his magical shield.

It apparently looked like a weakness to the shield. But from his earlier demonstration, Jadarin was well aware of this weakness. But, it was a new method to try, nonetheless. He just hoped that Amelia found them soon, or else there would be no chance to test Lina's theories.

Wait, Amelia? She was with Sonjia. Who was probably who Jadarin was going after right now. And if Jadarin behaved the same way to Amelia's group as he did to Zelgadis's...

Zelgadis wondered how many miracles he was allowed in the span of five minutes.

* * *


	12. What Happened? The Spell is Ineffective...

**Slayers: Gods' Blood Pt. 12  
What Happened? The Spell is Ineffective?**

* * *

"Sonjia-san..." Amelia sighed for the millionth time as the disgruntled goddess still hung to the pole. Gourry had given up yanking on her arm, which just served to allow her to wrap another appendage around the bar, making her look like some sort of over-protective collector clutching her most prized possession. Although infinitely less elegant.

"I already told you, I'm not going out there," Sonjia reiterated, also for the millionth time. "I don't have to take orders from you, and I don't feel like getting dragged into your petty affairs."

"Lina's having an affair?" Gourry asked, shocked. He had no idea what the word meant, but had heard it used in distasteful context a number of times, so he supposed it wasn't a good thing.

"But, isn't this whole thing your business, too? I mean, this _is_ your sister's spell," reasoned Amelia. "At least she'll probably rest easier knowing that no one is using it for injustice."

Sonjia looked away and sniffed. "She can rest any way she wants, for all I care. I'm not getting caught up in this again. It was hell enough the first time, and I don't need any more."

"I'm confused," said Gourry.

Sonjia gave him a flat look. "The revelation of the century," she said, dryly. Amelia had actually been thinking about the same thing, but had kept her mouth shut.

"Well, it's just that you had nice things to say about your sister when we first met, and as you kept talking about her, you just kept getting meaner and meaner," Gourry explained. "Why don't you like her anymore?"

"Call it a difference of opinion," grumbled Sonjia. "Before I was sealed away, I had no choice but to agree with her ideals, so there really wasn't much conflict. But now that she's gone, I have the opportunity to look at this from my own vantage point... and her ideals were _seriously_ cracked."

"Well, even though you think differently, you can't blame her for everything!" said Amelia, cheerily. She then paused on that thought. "Hey, if you think differently, then maybe you've thought of a way to beat that spell! Didn't you mention something before about it...?"

Sonjia slid down the pole a ways. "You mean about physical attacks?"

"If that's what you were gonna say before in that house, yeah," replied Amelia.

Sonjia shrugged. "Hey, I thought it was easy enough to figure out. I mean, the spell disables and absorbs all magic. It can't do a thing about physical attacks. Heck, it even makes Mazoku and Gods _susceptible_ to physical attacks by blocking them from their astral body, thus confining them to a physical one."

Amelia leapt up, eyes aglow. "That's great, Sonjia-san! Gourry-san!" she exclaimed, turning to him, "This guy's for you, then! He's weak against you sword!"

Sonjia waved her hand halfheartedly. "I think you're forgetting something, Little Miss Spunky. Don't forget that the last time Gourry tried hitting that Mazoku with a sword, it didn't work. Yes, the shield makes him susceptible to physical attacks. But it's not a permanent shield. He can take it down whenever it's to his advantage to do so."

Gourry didn't quite understand that, so asked, "What about the Sword of Light?"

Sonjia sighed. "Even if you people _had_ a Light Weapon, it wouldn't do you much good. Those things are made out of pure energy, and would be interpreted by the shield as a magical attack."

"Oh," said Gourry, taking his hand off the hilt of his sword. No point in showing her now.

"How about itself?" asked Amelia. "Will the spell defend against itself? Can you use the shield to... shield against the... shield...?" Her brain started hurting after she said that.

Sonjia blinked at the somewhat creative idea. She thought a moment, then concluded, "Probably. Since it absorbs all energy, the next time the spell is cast, it won't have any energy to absorb. However, if you get it cast on you, it won't really matter if you can get it cast on you again. Once is enough." She then motioned to the town around them. "And if you feel like locking yourself in one of these houses for eternity, be my guest. You won't have to worry about the spell anymore, unless he decides to break down the door."

"But at least we're happy that we figured out something the spell won't work on!" said Amelia, perkily.

Sonjia twirled a finger in the air. "Woo hoo. And see how much better off we are with this knowledge? Yay, it doesn't work on itself. Does anyone here happen to embody that spell? Didn't think so." She awaited any other bone-headed ideas.

"So what's the big deal?" wondered Gourry. "If this spell thing works on everything, doesn't that mean it'll work on that Mazoku guy, too? Sonjia knows the spell, so--"

"_Are you out of your mind_?!" she shot at him, half losing her grip as the force of her exclamation spun her around the pole. "I would _never_ cast that spell for the purpose of killing _anyone_! Not even on someone as despicable as _him_!"

Sonjia suddenly found a little black-haired princess latched to her waist. "Ahhh, Sonjia-san, I was almost starting to think you were a bad guy, but now you have shown that you do have the fire of Justice burning in your heart!"

"Don't hug me, I'll get human germs!" said Sonjia, releasing her grip on the pole in an attempt to pry the princess off her. In the end, they both ended up in an ungraceful heap on the ground. Sonjia sat up and continued, "And of course I'm not a bad guy! For one, I'm a God. For another, _I'm not a guy_! I'm a..." She was interrupted by a brick falling on her head. Everyone looked up and saw a dark figure floating overhead.

"Aaah! The Mazoku came after us!" Amelia shouted. "What did you do to Lina-san and Zelgadis-san?"

The Mazoku floated downwards, thinking. "Well, nothing recently. Or are you referring to the numerous other times I've played games with them?"

Amelia sighed in relief. "Oh, it's just Xellos-san… What are you doing here?"

Xellos shrugged. "Well, I _am_ still on a seek and destroy mission. And since I'm here, and she's here, I've already sought her, so that just leaves..." He grinned happily and pointed his staff at Sonjia. "Destroy!"

"Oh, bite me," sighed Sonjia, leaning against the wall.

Xellos's smirk dropped slightly as he lowered his staff. "Oh foo. I was hoping for a slightly more entertaining reaction than that. You've gotten so delightfully worked up the last few times, I couldn't spare myself the amusement."

Sonjia glared back at him. "So, if you're not trying to destroy me anymore, why exactly do you feel the need to grace us with your presence?" she spat sarcastically.

Xellos grinned mischievously and held a finger to his lips. "All will become apparent in due time." He then touched the end of his staff against Sonjia's arm and vanished.

Amelia and Gourry blinked in confusion, while Sonjia just stared flatly at the empty space Xellos had just occupied. "I think that was just an attempted kidnapping." She then glanced back at the wall, which her hand was against. "What a moron."

Xellos reappeared a second later, clutching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh dear, that didn't go nearly as well as I had planned."

"Next time read up on your opponent, Smirk Boy," Sonjia shot back at him. "Doesn't you superior debrief you on anything?"

A silent grin was her only answer, and Sonjia took that as a "no". True, she figured having one's underlings know as little as possible was a good way to keep them in line. And Xellos's master probably had a good judge of his intelligence, and didn't bother going over the details of a mission, trusting him to figure it out himself. But... even for something this counter-intuitive? He obviously still didn't have a clue what he was really up against. At least this appeared to be advantageous at the moment.

"So, you're trying to capture me, huh?" she concluded. "Gee, I feel honored. I get to be a hostage of _both_ sides! Which is really great, since the person you're trying to negotiate with is _dead_! So, holding me hostage will do a whole lotta nothing. And if you think I mean anything to your Mazoku buddy..."

"Which you must, if he's been seeking you out," interrupted Xellos, getting slightly annoyed at her sarcastic tirade. "Now, if you'll come quietly..."

Sonjia removed her hand from the wall and pointed at him. "I'm not going anywhere with _any_ Mazo... ku...?" she finished, hesitantly, confused. She placed her hand back on the wall and looked at Xellos again, then removed it while still eyeing him. "Wait a minute, you _are_ a Mazoku, right?"

Xellos scratched his chin. "Last time I checked."

Sonjia replaced, removed, and replaced her hand on the wall again, all while still scrutinizing him. "Then why do I see you as a human whether I can see through magic or not? Did you used to be human? Is that your true form?"

And to that, Xellos's reply was so painfully obvious that I won't even bother repeating it here.

"Ah, figures," said Sonjia, sulking. "Anyway, don't bother trying to capture me. Any qualms you have with that Jadarin fellow you can take up with him. He has nothing to do with me."

"Actually, while I was gone, I found out something interesting about him," said Xellos. "But I'm afraid that it's a secret."

Amelia sweatdropped. "Then why did you even bother bringing it up?"

Xellos grinned. "Oh, just to keep you curious."

"Oh, what's the harm in telling that one little secret, Xellos?" Jadarin called from atop a nearby roof. "An ironic twist always makes things more interesting!"

"See?" said Sonjia, pointing up towards Jadarin. "Get him, not me. He's annoying." She looked up at the cat Mazoku, then did a double-take. "What the…?" She looked behind her and realized her hand was still in contact with the wall. Tentatively, she removed it and looked back up at him. "Mazoku…" she commented to herself, then put her hand back on the wall. The image in front of her shifted slightly, showing everything as it truly was, unaffected by magic. "Well, that explains a lot."

Jadarin shifted his weight and smiled. "Well, looks like two of you understand now. Would the rest of you care to try?"

"Care to try what?" asked Gourry.

"I dunno, touching the wall maybe," said Amelia, placing her hand against it and looking back up at Jadarin. "Hey, he looks different!" she observed. "He's got feathered wings now!" She looked at Sonjia. "But, I don't understand what the big deal is about--ack!" Amelia blinked and gasped, realizing what she was seeing. "Sonjia-san…! Is that… is that your true form?" she asked. She looked up at Jadarin, then back down at Sonjia. "Um, you two look a lot alike…"

Sonjia smacked her forehead. "'The Mazoku got him', huh? Jeez, sis, now I've gotta go back and reinterpret everything you've ever said! Thanks a lot! Could answer a couple other things, I guess..."

"Your revelations are all very touching, but in the end, it really makes no difference," Jadarin called to them. He leapt down from the roof and grabbed Sonjia roughly by the wrist. "Jeez, I can't take my eyes off you for a second, and you go off and mess things up."

Sonjia smacked his arm. "The pot calling the kettle black! You think you're _not_ messing things up? What the heck do you think you're doing?!"

Jadarin grinned. "Fixing things." He yanked her away from the wall and snapped his fingers, producing a silver thread. "Ah, wonderful. It works again."

"So, you're going to kill me with that to make sure I don't mess things up again, huh?" wondered Sonjia, dryly.

Jadarin laughed. "Oh, heavens no! If I were to kill you, it wouldn't be with this little thing. However," he said, turning to Amelia, Gourry, and Xellos, "I won't spare such liberties with the likes of them."

Sonjia's eyes widened as she realized what he was planning to do. Although she really didn't care if he killed them, he most certainly wasn't killing them with _that_. Without even thinking, she reached out and snatched the string from his fingertips. Her thought process caught up with her about a second later. And then realization slammed into her like a brick wall.

"I am such an idiot," she whispered to herself as she looked down at her hand and watched the silver thread absorb into her skin. She cringed, waiting for what she assumed would be immense pain. The pain of having her very essence ripped from her. And being a creature of magic, there was quite a bit to rip away. She waited to feel the strands multiply and engulf her body, to penetrate every piece of her until there was nothing left.

Oddly, nothing ever happened. After a moment, she gingerly opened one eye and noticed she still existed, and none the worse for wear.

"Why?" she whispered, flexing her hand. "Why didn't it do anything to me?" She looked up at Jadarin. "What did you do to counter that spell?"

Jadarin chuckled. "I did nothing. But like I said, if I wished to kill you, it wouldn't be with that."

"Then why?" Sonjia demanded, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. "Why the hell didn't it work on me?"

Jadarin held up a warning finger. "Watch your mouth, young lady. And you needn't worry yourself about it, as your purpose will be fulfilled shortly." With that, he pinned both of Sonjia's arms behind her back and levitated into the air with her.

"What 'purpose'?" growled Sonjia, struggling in his grip. "I do not have, nor have I ever had, anything to do with the Magic Lock!"

"That you know about," Jadarin added. Sonjia's eyes widened, as he said, "You must have figured out by now how your sister had quite a way with obscuring the truth."

Sonjia wrenched her head around and glared at him. "But she's _dead_!" she reminded him, forcefully.

Jadarin smirked. "She wasn't as careless as you might have thought. Come now. Let's end this charade promptly. It's been going on far too long." He then teleported away, Sonjia in tow.

"Sonjia-san!" Amelia shouted. "What's he going to do to her?"

"Maybe he's gonna use that evil silver string thingy!" suggested Gourry. "That means she's in a lot of trouble!"

Amelia looked at the empty space Sonjia and Jadarin had just occupied. "But, it didn't look like it worked on her. I wonder why?"

Xellos opened one eye slightly. This was unusual. They seemed to know more about what was going on than he did. Gourry and Amelia knew more about it than he did. That was just downright pathetic. How did they get so far ahead of him?

"Well, looks like at least they're together now, so apprehending them won't be too much trouble," said Xellos, preparing to leave.

"Are you actually going to try and fight him?" asked Amelia. "He could kill you just like everyone else in this town! And really easily, too!"

Xellos raised an eyebrow. He hated to admit it, but that statement had him curious, although he assumed it was quite overblown. "How so?"

At that point, both Amelia and Gourry fell silent, completely blanking as to what to say to him, as they didn't understand the spell at all themselves. "Um, he's got this sort of killer shield thing," Amelia tried to explain. "It sucks up magic, I think."

"Oh, didn't she say some things about how it makes you see weird stuff?" said Gourry. "And there was that part about not being able to swim or something." He scratched his head. "And don't you lock stuff up with it? And then there was all that stuff with the circle in the dirt. I didn't get that."

Xellos realized that the two had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. No surprise there, really. But if they couldn't remember it, it couldn't have been that important.

"You two say some pretty interesting things," said Xellos, sweatdropping. "Anyway, I'll be off, now. Tell Lina-san I said 'hi'!" And with that he vanished.

However, his comment had suddenly turned Amelia's attention from Xellos's predicament to Lina and Zelgadis's. "Aaahhhh! That's right! Where are Lina-san and Zelgadis-san?!" Amelia shouted, frantically.

"Well, that Mazoku isn't chasing them anymore, which is a good thing," observed Gourry.

"Gourry-san, that probably means he did something awful to them!" Amelia was about to run off down the street, but paused. Xellos was going after Jadarin, which meant he was in trouble, too, although he didn't seem aware of it. And Sonjia was obviously in trouble as well. And going to help one would probably mean certain death for the others. Amelia clutched her head. Aaaahhh, she hated having to make decisions like this! And being an active member of the Royal family meant that she had to make these kinds of political decisions quite often.

That's right! She was the princess of Seyruun! Seyruun always did what was best for everyone! And no one was going to die because she made the wrong decision.

Amelia spun around and faced Gourry, her cheeks puffed out and eyes blazing with determination. "Gourry-san! I'm going to go find Lina-san and Zelgadis-san. In the meantime, you should go find Sonjia-san and that Mazoku. And Xellos-san is probably following them. You need to make sure no one dies! Got that?"

Gourry saluted. "Aye-aye, ma'am!"

They nodded to each other and took off in opposite directions. Gourry stopped after a few hundred feet and poked his finger to his head.

"So, uh, where do I look for them?" They'd just disappeared into thin air, so he had no idea even of which direction they went. He wondered if Mazoku even knew which direction they were headed when they disappeared.

Gourry plopped down on the ground and tilted his head in deep concentration. "So, did they go that way? Or maybe this way? Maybe Sonjia went to Sweden. She talked about that a while ago. Hmm... how do I tell?" This was turning out to be problematic.

Suddenly, a little lightbulb turned on over Gourry's head. He'd just remembered something he saw someone do in a small theater play that he happened to catch a couple minutes of. Gourry pulled out his sword and got down on one knee, his sword pointed in the air. He couldn't remember the exact lines the guy used, but he thought he remembered the basic gist of them.

"Please, guide my sword," said Gourry, trying to remember the lines. "I need to find... those guys... So, uh, please guide my sword to them. Guide my sword!"

Gourry stood up and looked at his sword. In the play, the guy's sword started dragging him around a grove and eventually pointed at a tree with a secret door. Gourry's sword wasn't moving. Maybe it was broken.

Gourry shrugged and figured that if he just started walking, he could trick his sword into thinking it was leading him. So, he stuck out his sword in front of him and just started walking down the road. Yeah, he'd find them for sure this way! Hey, it worked in the play. 

* * *

"Lina-saaaan! Zelgadis-saaaan!" Amelia had been frantically searching the town for any sign of her two missing comrades. She started at the house that they'd hid in, and from there had found a place where it looked like there was a battle, as the walls of the buildings were in shambles, and there was the remnants of a Vlave Howl protruding from the ground. She'd also come across blood, which was not a good sign.

Amelia decided she'd be able to search much more quickly from the air, so Raywinged over the city to broaden her search. They couldn't have gone too far. She'd spot them eventually.

Unless Jadarin cast the Magic Lock on them, in which case they would have turned silver and blended in with the rest of the town. No, she wouldn't think like that. They had to be alive! They just had to be!

"Lina-saaan! Zelgadis-saaan!" This wasn't looking good. She was reaching the edge of town, and there was still no sign of either of them. What if the Mazoku _had_ killed them? No, that was impossible! Everyone she ever travelled with had to be burning with the fires of Justice, and Justice never lost!

Amelia landed just outside of town, and gave another good "Lina-saaaan! Zelgadis-saaaan!" for good measure. Where were they?

"Amelia?" came a faint choke from below her. Amelia looked down into the ditch that she was standing near, and caught sight of both Lina and Zelgadis. And, thankfully, neither were silver.

"Zelgadis-saan! Thank goodness!" Amelia cried, bounding down the hill. She caught her foot on a loose stone about halfway and came tumbling down the rest of the way, ending up in a heap at Zelgadis's feet. "Heh heh..." she grinned, looking up from the dirt.

Zelgadis sighed and sweatdropped. "Well, it's a good thing you're here, at any rate."

Amelia picked herself up, eyes sparkling. "I'm always here to help! I'm just glad you two are safe! That Mazoku is bad news, right Lina-san?" Amelia glanced over at Lina's prone form, and only now noticed that she hadn't moved since Amelia had arrived.

"Lina-san!" Amelia gasped, shaking Lina's shoulders. "She won't wake up! Zelgadis-san, what happened to her? Lina-san! Lina-san!"

"It was Jadarin," explained Zelgadis, holding his shoulder. "He's fast, and he's very well aware of any weaknesses he has, and won't ever allow them to be exploited. And he's not afraid to turn to physical abuse if he can't use his magic." Zelgadis pounded his fist into the ground. "Che... We could hardly scratch him."

Amelia held her hands over Lina's body and charged up a Recovery spell. "And now he's kidnapped Sonjia-san. Gourry-san went off to look for them."

"He went off _alone_ against him?" Zelgadis said, bewildered.

"Someone's gotta keep Sonjia-san and Xellos-san from getting hurt!" Amelia countered. "Although Gourry-san probably won't be able to find them..." she admitted.

Zelgadis shrugged. "I could care less what happens to those two. Jadarin can beat Xellos to a pulp for all I care. And I've had enough 'goddess' crap to last me a lifetime. He would be doing the world a favor by shutting her up with that spell of his."

"Actually, it doesn't work on her," commented Amelia, still giving the Recovery spell to Lina, who had yet to regain consciousness. "She touched one of Jadarin's silver threads, but it didn't do anything."

Zelgadis smirked. "Hmph, I thought she was exaggerating it quite a bit. Looks like it can't kill everything and anything."

"Maybe..." said Amelia, lowering her head. "But Sonjia-san said that the only thing it doesn't work against is itself."

Lina coughed and took a ragged breath. "How could I be so stupid…?" she muttered to herself, quietly.

"Lina-san! You're okay!" said Amelia. "It's okay that you got beat up. We won't tell anyone."

Lina opened her eyes partially and tried to look at Amelia, but her vision was still so blurred, she had trouble making anything out. "No... I was just listening... to what you said. If the spell doesn't work on Sonjia... then it all makes sense now..."

"Sense is a good thing," agreed Zelgadis, although he really had no idea why the spell's not working on Sonjia suddenly cleared everything up.

Lina smirked weakly. "Being unconscious has its advantages. It gives you time to think." Zelgadis was about to ask how someone could think while unconscious, when Lina continued, "And I had a really weird idea, although it seemed to make sense. It would explain why Jadarin, even though he's such a low-ranking Mazoku, knows so much about Sonjia and the spell when the higher-ups don't seem to have a clue. I think... he's her brother that she sometimes mentioned. Who was held hostage by the Mazoku."

Amelia scratched her head. "Ohh, so maybe that's why he and Sonjia-san looked the same. And why she suddenly recognized him."

Lina furrowed her brow in contemplation. "But of all things, it explains why he told me he doesn't like pain. If he was a God before, he'd have a natural aversion to such things."

Zelgadis clutched his injured arm and snorted. "Yeah, he sure convinced me that he hates pain."

Lina sat up and immediately clutched her side in pain. Apparently she wasn't as healed as much as she thought she was. "By the way, where's Gourry?"

"Oh, I thought you heard that part of the conversation, too," said Amelia. "He's gone off to find that Mazoku to keep him from hurting anyone else. And once you two are all better, we can help him smash Jadarin with the Hammer of Justice!"

Lina sat all the way up, ignoring the pain in her side. "He _what_?!"

"I'm sure he's... fine," assured Amelia, although she wasn't entirely confident about her statement.

"Jadarin will kill him without a thought! And he's too dumb to know to be wary of that spell!" Lina tried to stand up, but was having a hard time supporting her weight.

"Lina-san, you shouldn't move yet! You're not fully healed!"

"We don't have time for a full healing right now, Amelia!" said Lina, trying to steady herself. "Even though that Mazoku's dangerous, he deserves a little payback for beating up a poor, defenseless girl! Besides," she added, winking, "I can't let Gourry have all the fun!"

Amelia stood up as well. "That's right, Lina-san! We need to show that Mazoku justice, and help Gourry-san out! And this way, no one else will get hurt by the forces of evil!"

Zelgadis sighed from the ground. "I'm not all that into a rescue mission." He had begun a minor healing spell of his own, but wasn't making much progress. "I'm certainly in no rush to get beat down again, but if you two want to go out there and get killed, be my guest."

"Your pessimism always inspires me!" said Lina, giving Zel a thumbs-up. "But we're not forcing you to come. If you want to stay here, I don't blame you. But, if you DO come help out, Sonjia will be indebted to you."

Tempting. Maybe it would wipe that stuck-up expression of her face for at least a few minutes. And Gourry was his friend, after all. And Lina was right about giving Jadarin some payback. And if Jadarin beat Xellos to a pulp, he'd kinda like to see that. Ah, what the hell.

"Okay, I'll go," sighed Zelgadis in defeat.

"Yay! Zelgadis-san resumes his fight for Justice!" cheered Amelia, dancing in circles.

"Okay, Amelia, lead the way!" commanded Lina. "Let's go find Gourry and beat that Mazoku's sorry butt into the ground!"

"Right!" said Amelia, taking a dramatic step forward.

She then stopped and sweatdropped. "Um, I have no idea where he went," she admitted. She pointed randomly back into town. "Somewhere that way."

Lina sweatdropped as well. "Well... good enough for me! C'mon, Zel!" She limped triumphantly up the hill, leaning on a stick she had swiped from some unknown place. Yes, she would have her showdown with that Mazoku, all right. And it would be somewhere... that way.

* * *


	13. Consequences! Preparing for What May Co...

**Slayers: God's Blood pt. 13  
Consequences! Preparing for What May Come**

* * *

Sonjia surveyed her surroundings and blinked in confusion. Jadarin had teleported away with her, and they seemed to have reappeared... all of a half mile away. Some kidnapping.

"What the heck kind of teleport was that?" Sonjia wondered aloud, almost sounding disappointed at her captor's tactical abilities. He didn't seem that stupid before. Or weak, as she noted his expression. Jadarin was visibly drained from this maneuver. Come on, teleportation wasn't that big a deal for Mazoku or Gods. Unless...

"You've lost you divine abilities, haven't you?" Sonjia concluded. As she'd explained to Lina before, all higher beings had the natural abilities of teleportation, levitation, and form shifts. And this short distance seemed the limit of what Jadarin could handle in terms of teleportation. He also seemed to rely quite heavily on his wings for flight. And she'd never seen him change forms.

Jadarin clutched her arm more tightly and smirked. "Hmph. You put it so negatively. I simply exist outside the constraints that bind the higher beings. I've found that it doesn't seem possible to completely convert a God to a Mazoku, or vice versa. In fact, the farthest you can get is halfway."

"Halfway between a God and Mazoku is a human," Sonjia clarified. "What a way to be."

"It's not that bad," Jadarin reasoned. "I mean, sure, I don't have any power of my own, but I still exist as an astral body. That's mine for keeps now."

"Yeah," said Sonjia, trying to wrench free of his grasp, "But that body is now massively corrupted I'd assume. It probably has no defined place to exist."

Jadarin smirked and threw her to the ground. "Precisely." Sonjia rolled over to look up at him, as he continued, "And since I have no place, I can decide my own purpose."

Sonjia let out a disgusted sigh and looked away. "So, you've decided that your 'purpose' is to use the most terrible spell in creation to wipe out all of existence, huh? That's real productive."

"It's a lesson," explained Jadarin. "To show the Gods and Mazoku first hand that they want no business with this spell. For you see, the Magic Lock has the ability to turn the world to Emptiness, not Chaos. You can't have Chaos if there's nothing there to be Chaotic. Simply a frozen, unmoving void of nothing. It's been my experience that neither God nor Mazoku want this."

Sonjia stood up and looked incredulously at him. "So, you're going to destroy the world with that spell to show the higher-ups that it would be stupid if they did it themselves that way?"

"Oh, heavens no!" countered Jadarin, holding up his hand. "Although I have no place here, I also have no desire for the world to end as such. However," he continued, looking down at her, "I will continue making as many examples as necessary for my point to get across."

Sonjia backed away from him, shocked that he seemed to care nothing for the souls he would destroy and the balance he would disrupt. "You're... insane," she whispered. "And even though you have been revealed to be my older brother, I still don't want any part of this!"

Jadarin smirked and pulled out a chopstick, "My dear, you have no choice."

"I can say 'no', plain and simple."

"True," said Jadarin, snapping his fingers and producing a thread. "But no matter how much you say 'no', you can't prevent me from doing this."

Sonjia crossed her arms. "With my sister dead, you shouldn't be able to do that, anyway."

"And still you refuse to see the obvious," stated Jadarin, looking up and shaking his head in frustration. "I heard you and your little human friends chatting. You think the Gold Dragons stole the spell from her, don't you? Thing is, you can't exactly be picky-choosey when you do that. You get all or nothing. In this case, they got nothing, leading to the collapse of the wards on the lab, and..." he pointed to his head, "on my mind."

"And yet the Magic Lock still exists," said Sonjia, although she had a nagging feeling she already knew where this was headed.

"An astounding observation!" commented Jadarin. "When you steal a God's power, you can't be selective about what power you get. However, if the God gives the power voluntarily, the God can decide what you are given." He scratched his chin and smiled. "Quite a useful technique if you've got a power you don't want anyone to get ahold of. You can just put it somewhere else and hide it away."

Sonjia backed away a few more steps. "You mean me, don't you?"

Jadarin grinned. "Don't you feel special? Your entire purpose is that of temporary storage."

Sonjia looked at her hands in shock. "So, _I've_ got the source power? That must be why the spell doesn't work on me."

"A drop of water will not dampen the river, but merely rejoin it."

Sonjia gave Jadarin a flat look. "Don't ever speak profoundly again. It's scary." She shrugged. "So I've got the source power. I still don't understand why you need me. You should be able to draw power from me no matter where I am."

"This is true. But you have an annoying habit of coming in contact with certain things that prevent you from using magic, and thus prevent anyone from drawing power from you." He pulled out his chopstick. "Which is quite the inconvenience. Looks like the power will have to change hands again if I'm to control it fully."

Sonjia backed up a ways more. "If you're going to ask me to give it to you, you can forget it. For one thing, I don't even know how to do it. And for another, I still refuse to help you."

"Such a shame," said Jadarin, advancing forward. "Looks like I'll just have to take it by force."

A blast of dark energy collided with his back and evaporated. Jadarin whirled around and snarled at the newcomer. "Xellos…" he growled. "I have no time for this!"

"Nor do I," said Xellos. "I tire of chasing you down. Really, I have much more important and entertaining things to be doing than hunting down a rogue Mazoku."

"And I tire of you chasing me," Jadarin replied. "Shoo," he commanded, snapping his fingers and flicking a silver thread in Xellos's direction.

"No! Don't kill him with that!" yelled Sonjia, grabbing onto Jadarin's chopstick, hoping that canceling her power would cancel the spell.

"Too late, my dear," said Jadarin. "The spell has already been cast, and your power no longer controls it. You are simply the spark which lights the fire, you could say." He grabbed her by the throat. "And I would love to add a little spark to my life."

Xellos raised an eyebrow at Jadarin's display. He'd seen him snap his fingers in that manner before, but it never seemed to do anything. Xellos didn't sense any sort of power build-up, or strange energy around him. Sonjia had yelled something about not killing him. Perhaps she had stopped Jadarin from casting whatever he was trying to cast. Rather foolish of her to give up the first move. Although Sonjia was no longer high on his priorities to subdue, if she got in the way of this... unpleasant things were bound to happen to her. Xellos smirked and readied another attack.

Something that felt no heavier nor more substantial than a strand of hair lightly landed on his nose. It slightly glinted silver as it came to rest on his skin. Xellos was so focused on his present task, he didn't even notice such a trifling thing.

Which was just as well, since he didn't have the time to even register that he noticed something before his entire body went numb.

* * *

Lina limped along, holding herself up with a thick branch. "I should have seen it sooner than this," she muttered to herself. "He was playing with us, dropping hints all along…"

Zelgadis sighed at Lina's incessant need to keep them in suspense. "So, what's this all about, then? Why so suddenly worried about what happened to Sonjia?"

"It's because Sonjia's the one with the source power of the Magic Lock," Lina explained.

"How come you think that?" wondered Amelia.

"First of all," said Lina, "Jadarin kept on saying that she was working for him; that he couldn't have done anything without her. He was telling the truth, in a way, because he was drawing the power for the spell from Sonjia. And secondly, you said that Sonjia got that spell cast on her but it didn't do anything. It's my understanding that no matter what a spell does, it absolutely won't work on the being from which the spell is drawn."

"Ohh," said Amelia, slightly understanding. "So, how come Jadarin is still trying to catch Sonjia-san? You don't need to catch Shabranigdo to cast the Dragon Slave."

Lina sweatdropped and grinned sheepishly. "Well, Shabranigdo's sort of everywhere in the world, and his power is there for the exploiting. However," she continued, looking ahead, "Sonjia is one, small, independent mind. Jadarin can't control her actions. Many of which, like using her ribbon, would prevent him from drawing power from her. That's probably why his spell didn't work half the times he tried to use it."

Zelgadis shook his head at the ridiculousness of it all. "So what's got you all worked up? We know that Sonjia's far too stubborn to actually work alongside anyone. And he can't kill her if he wants to use her power."

"Actually, to get her power, that's exactly what he'd have to do," countered Lina, looking back at Zelgadis. "Remember when we discussed the transference of power? He could just kill her and take it. And if Jadarin gets full control of the spell, he could use it on a much wider scale than he has been. And he won't have any more limitations." Lina rubbed her chin in thought, then added quietly to herself, "Plus, we'd lose the one ace we have against him."

"Which would be...?" asked Zelgadis, having picked up Lina's silent musing. "If you think that Sonjia has some sort of secret super power that she can conveniently sprout for no particular reason to save the universe just to show us up, I'm going to kill myself."

Lina's mouth twitched. "Save room for me, Zel. Although, thankfully, that's not what I was thinking of." And, unfortunately for her two curious companions, Lina just left it at that.

Suddenly, ahead of them, they heard a rather loud *clank*. The group stopped defensively, simply on instinct. However, logic caught up a second later when they remembered that Mazoku don't tend to fight with swords.

Then, a strange scuffling sound was heard. There was definitely some sort of struggle going on just ahead of them. Which seemed odd, because everyone in town was supposedly dead, and Sonjia and Jadarin certainly wouldn't produce a "clank". But then... what was it?

Lina cautiously peeked around the corner, and lo and behold, there was Gourry, with his sword nicely embedded in a wall. He was currently trying to pry it out, without much luck.

"Gourry!" exclaimed Lina, trying to hide her excitement that he hadn't in fact found the Mazoku and experienced the wrath of Magic Lock.

"Oh, hi, Lina!" said Gourry, looking up and waving. "Good to see you're kinda okay!"

"Gourry-san..." said Amelia, sweatdropping. "What exactly were you doing?" She indicated his sword sticking into the wall.

Gourry grinned. "My sword's been telling me where to go! See, I just hold it in front of me and walk, and it takes me to what I'm trying to find! Except I guess things keep getting in the way, since I just keep walking into buildings." He gave his sword one more good yank and finally dislodged it from the wall. "So, what happened to you that you got all beat up like that?"

"Long story," said Lina, waving him off. "At least we're still in one piece. But besides that," said Lina, looking ahead down the road, "now we just need to figure out where Jadarin is so we can kick his butt."

Gourry sheathed his sword and tilted his head in the direction of the building he had just run into. "He's over there."

Lina's head dropped, as did the sweat. She grabbed Gourry by the collar and explained nicely, "Now, look! You can't track down a Mazoku with such a simple method! There's no easy way to predict where he went! He could be hundreds of miles away by now, or even on the Astral Plane! I sincerely doubt he is simply 'over there'."

"But that's where my sword was telling me to go," said Gourry. "It's never done me wrong before."

Lina sighed and tromped around behind the house, which happened to be right on the edge of town. Behind the house was a tree that had miraculously avoided the initial onslaught of Magic Lock, and still stood green and alive. Granted, this was something impressive to see given all the killing that had been done in recent times. But it still wasn't exactly what Lina was looking for.

"See?" she said, indicating the tree. "They're not there."

"Maybe a little farther that way...?" suggested Gourry, indicating the rise beyond the town.

"They're not _there_, Gourry!" retorted Lina, slumping against the tree. "That's what I really hate about Mazoku. You never know where they are, or where they're going to show up."

"Lina... san?" started Amelia, hesitantly. She had hardly ever seen Lina's confidence waver like this. It certainly wasn't like her. She knew that Jadarin's spell was a very evil thing, but Lina seemed to have started taking it even more seriously as time went on. Perhaps the full implications of what it could do were finally hitting home.

"It's funny," said Lina, not really to anyone in particular. "I've never really been this afraid of a spell before. Not even the Giga Slave. Because the Giga Slave is under my power, and I know when I'm using it. But this... this isn't something that'll just return the world to nothingness. This'll swipe the souls of everything it touches. Just completely out of nowhere. You can't see it. You can't sense it. You don't even know it's hit you until it kills you. If you even realize it's hit you." She looked up and tried to grin, despite it all. "I'd hate to die like that. Just keeling over without even knowing what killed you. Without even the capability of reminiscing over your death, since your soul's been destroyed." She pushed herself forward off the tree. "And something that does that... shouldn't be allowed to exist."

The others were silent. They hadn't really though about what it would mean for them and the rest of the world if Jadarin was able to get away. But it looked like he had done just that. They had no way of tracking him. And even if they could find him and he turned out to be hundreds of miles away, they'd never reach him in time.

It looked like all they could do... was wait. 

* * *

Sonjia had managed to wrestle one chopstick away from Jadarin. At least her contact with it would keep him from casting the spell again, but it didn't really help Xellos, or anyone else he had cast the spell on, now.

"Why did you do it? Why do you keep doing this? Why can't you see how terrible this spell really is?!"

Jadarin sneered and tucked the remaining chopstick into his belt. "I understand perfectly well how terrible it is. Unfortunately, not everyone does. That's why I must show them the terror they would bring upon themselves by using it!"

"If you'd _stop_ using it, they wouldn't _have_ anything to be afraid of!" Sonjia reasoned. This strategy had seemed like a good idea right up to the point that she realized that she carried the spell's power. Her death, or the death of the rest of existence? That was a really tough choice.

"Even so, are you really willing to sacrifice yourself for that purpose?" Sonjia hesitated to answer, to which Jadarin smirked and concluded, "Didn't think so."

"Well, even if I _do_ die to ensure the total eradication of the Magic Lock, I can't be certain that you won't swipe it from me upon the time of my death," she replied.

Jadarin shrugged in defeat. "You've got me there. However," he continued, lowering himself like a cat ready to pounce. "Exactly how long can you resist me?"

He charged and swiped his claws across her belly. But they just passed right through without doing any damage. He looked up and noticed that Sonjia had placed her chopstick in her vest pocket, her hand hovering over it.

"You can't hurt me like that," she said. "And as soon as you start up a spell, I grab for this." She tapped it a few times. "I think I can handle you well enough."

Jadarin tapped his chin with his chopstick in a mock thinking position. "I'd say…. No."

Sonjia was just about to wonder what he was plotting now, when she felt a sharp pain in her side. It took her a moment to realize what it was. His chopstick. He had stabbed her with his chopstick. She almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Absurd, yet effective.

"You know, I believe that you could possibly kill a Mazoku if you impaled it on a pike with this spell cast on it," he commented absently. "Don't you find that interesting? There are so many ways you could kill someone with this." He retrieved his other chopstick from her vest pocket and let her fall to the ground, clutching her bleeding side; the second chopstick still impaled in it.

"I'm sorry, my dear, but I believe you will be dying, whether you wish to or not." With that, he brought his claws down on her chest, intending to rip right though.

Well, they did go through, but there wasn't any ripping. His claws just passed through her chest as they had before. He looked and noted that the chopstick was still planted in her side. Her contact with it should be enough to make her vulnerable to physical attacks, shouldn't it?

"That hurt, you know," said Sonjia, firing up a recovery spell. She placed her hand on her injury and pulled the chopstick out without leaving a mark. "Pretty low of you to go backstabbing people like that."

"Impossible!" said Jadarin. "That spell should work on you indirectly! It has before!"

Sonjia held up the stick. "It would work on me if the spell was still on this thing. It came off again, just like with my ribbon." She looked it over. "But I was always under the impression that nothing could counter this spell. Yet this is the second time I've seen it come off."

Her train of thought was interrupted by a fireball to the face. Without any protection from a shield, it actually hurt.

"Even if the spell is ineffective against you, there's more than one way to skin a cat," Jadarin said, forming another fireball. "Taking you out should be easy, considering your specialty is healing, rather than shields or attacks."

"Well, your attacks aren't anything to get excited about either," Sonjia retorted. "Magic Lock is the only spell you have that really makes you a threat to anything."

"True," Jadarin admitted. "But you see, my dear, unlike most other Mazoku, I can draw energy from sources other than myself. Meaning I am not limited to using my own spells. In fact, let's try out a personal favorite of mine."

Sonjia wondered if he even _had_ any spells of his own to use anymore, now that he had taken on the energy signature equivalent to that of a human's. Granted, this DID allow him to cast Black, Shamanist, and perhaps even White magic spells. So, even though he insisted on calling himself a Mazoku, that wasn't really what he was. He wasn't really a God either, but he of course wasn't exactly human. Why was he so adverse to still considering himself a God, anyway?

"…. Buried in the flow of time. In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness…" Sonjia snapped out of her thought process. Why did that incantation seem so familiar?

"Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed…" Jadarin continued.

Sonjia pounded her fist into her palm. "Oh, now I know what spell that is! …. Oh crud!" No ribbon, no chopstick, no nothing to protect her this time. And she highly doubted that she was powerful enough to withstand a Dragon Slave at nearly point blank range. So, she did the only logical thing she could think of. She ran like hell.

"…By the power you and I possess! _Dragon Slave_!" Jadarin shouted. He saw Sonjia retreating. Oh, there was no running from this one. He let loose the giant stream of energy at his target.

Sonjia knew she wasn't going to make it anywhere safe. She could feel the air heating up behind her as the Dragon Slave bore down upon her. If only there was…

Thud. Perfect timing. She tripped. Looking behind her, she noticed that she had tripped over Xellos, who was lying on the ground and emitting a silver aura from his full dose of Magic Lock. Without even thinking, Sonjia grabbed him by the shirt collar and crouched behind him, using Xellos as a human(?) shield.

"So you _are_ useful for something," she muttered as the spell impacted. The Dragon Slave seemed to split and stream around them as soon as it hit the Locked Xellos. However, the ground around them was unaffected by Magic Lock, so the Dragon Slave had no trouble ripping it apart. The ground heaved, throwing Sonjia and Xellos backwards. She hit the ground on her back, and was bombarded with flying debris. Even though the spell itself couldn't hurt her, the flying rocks sure hurt like heck.

She peeked over Xellos's shoulder to try and look through the dust, fire, and glowing aftermath of the spell. Sonjia couldn't look very long, though, as a rather large and sharp rock hit her in the forehead, knocking her back.

"Well, this is great cover to make an escape, if I really had anywhere to escape to." She shrugged. "Eh, I'm game for a little delaying the inevitable. Maybe my luck will look up."

She dropped Xellos and got up. And immediately regretted doing so as the Black magic energy seared around her. She clutched her arms in pain and immediately grabbed Xellos again to block herself from the effects of the magic.

"Man, that's no good." She still needed to get away. But she couldn't use magic to escape unless she felt like being reduced to a writhing cinder.

Sonjia slung one of Xellos's arms over her shoulder. "Good for you, you get to be the temporary replacement for my ribbon," she explained to him. With that, she attempted to stand up.

And promptly fell over. She hadn't realized until now just how injured she was from the flying debris. So, running away was out of the question. So was teleporting, since her magic was disabled from touching Xellos. Which also meant she couldn't levitate or teleport. That killed off two of the three basic abilities.

Thankfully, the third was a physical property of a God or Mazoku's body, rather than a magical one.

"I learn from observation, you flightless fool," she said, letting go of Xellos with one hand for a moment to take off her vest, but left her blouse on. The effects of the Dragon Slave were beginning to subside, and the smoke and dust were beginning to clear. Not much time to escape now.

"Let's just hope that a form that hasn't seen use in a few thousand years still works," she hoped, crossing her free arm across her chest and concentrating. There was a moment of silence as she probed around the power inside her, trying to pull her goddess form out of hiding. She couldn't find it. She'd been in human form so long, it was locked away somewhere that she had trouble reaching. And she only had about a minute of cover left before Jadarin would spot her. Sonjia concentrated all her energy on finding…

There it is.

She almost gasped as a large pair of black, feathered wings ripped through the back of her blouse and protruded from her back, as she was unused to having them there. The rest of her body followed the color change, until her skin was coal black, nearly the color of her hair.

Without even stopping to get used to her appearance again, she scooped Xellos up and spread her wings. Since her wings hadn't been present when she was barraged by rocks, they were undamaged. But hopefully she could still remember how to use them to fly.

Sonjia lifted unsteadily off the ground, just as the smoke and dust began to clear. Too late, Jadarin had spotted her. But at least she already had a running start.

"Cheater!" Jadarin shouted up to her as she made her escape. He followed her suit and took to the air, but with the use of levitation spell rather than his wings, allowing him to fly much faster. Although he wouldn't be able to keep that up for long, he should be able to catch her in that short amount of time.

Sonjia, on the other hand, was not faring very well. She hurt all over and was bleeding from various injuries. And since she was unused to flying, she wasn't going very fast. And Jadarin was about to overtake her. "A little help right now would be nice," she said to herself, although she hated to admit it.

"Elmekia Lance!" came a shout from the ground. How's that for help? Sonjia looked down to see Amelia shoot a lance of white energy that hit Jadarin right in the chest. And since he was using magic to fly, his shield wasn't up, so he went crashing to the ground. Score one for the Lina team.

Sonjia sighed a hidden sigh of relief and sailed to the ground. However, instead of landing, she rather ungracefully crashed into the tree. She hung upside-down, her legs tangled in the branches. "I meant to do that," she explained, dropping Xellos to the ground a short ways below.

"I'm always one to notice a Dragon Slave," said Lina, making a little "victory" sign with her fingers. "And it looks like Gourry was right after all. I guess weird stuff happens."

"You can always trust my sword," said Gourry, proudly.

"Xellos-san!" Amelia shouted, running to him and putting her hand to his neck. "Oh no! Lina-san! He doesn't have a pulse!"

Lina limped over to have a look. "Well, that doesn't say much. Xellos is literally a heartless Mazoku, so he wouldn't have a pulse no matter what. Still," said Lina, examining him, "he's got a silver tint. Hmm, that Jadarin used Magic Lock on him, didn't he, Son….. Yaaaaaahh!" Lina fell over, not expecting to see Sonjia in her true form. Sonjia was, in the simplest description, a black, winged, humanoid cat.

"Great," said Zelgadis, rolling his eyes. "Instead of spontaneously developing stupendous powers, she turns out to be a cat girl."

"Hey!" shouted Sonjia, still hanging upside-down from the tree. "I'm not just _any_ cat girl!"

Lina knew where this was headed. She smirked as she prepared a few choice comebacks for whatever sort of boast Sonjia had this time. The goddess was becoming far too predictable.

Sonjia grinned proudly and continued, "I'm the most conservatively-dressed cat girl you will ever hope to see!"

"Oh yeah? Well, you... have a point," Lina finished lamely, realizing that this observation was in fact true. Jeez, and she had a really good one, too. Stupid Sonjia for wearing full-length pants and a completely opaque blouse, leaving no skin exposed but her face and lower arms.

Amelia looked up at the goddess hanging upside-down from the tree, then back down at Xellos. "Sonjia-san, is Xellos….?"

Sonjia finally managed to untangle her feet and fell to the ground on her head with a thud. She sat up, rubbing her head, and sighed. "Well, he's probably not completely dead yet. The Magic Lock only affects his physical form, so he's still got his body on the Astral Plane. But since his physical body can no longer absorb the negative energy it needs, his astral body will probably wither away in about a day's time. So, if you could remove the spell before then, he'd actually be more or less okay, but there's no way to do that."

"But it came off your ribbon," Amelia reasoned.

"Doesn't really help much if I don't know why it happened," said Sonjia, wiping her face off with the end of Xellos's cape. "It came off one of Jadarin's chopsticks, too."

Amelia grabbed Xellos's cape away from Sonjia. "Don't you have any respect for the dead?"

"Not really," she replied flatly.

"I could try a Flow Break to break the spell," said Amelia, charging up a ball of white energy.

Sonjia put her hand to her forehead and shook her head. "Oh, Amelia, haven't you learned anything? There's no way to break Magic Lock because it absorbs all spells, regardless of what the spell does." Amelia tried the spell anyway, and, predictably, it fizzled out as soon as she put her hand near Xellos's body.

Sonjia had started healing her own various injuries. "See?" she said, matter-of-factly, not looking up from her work.

Amelia's lower lip trembled, until she started spouting a large flow of tears. "Waaaahhh!! Poor Xellos-san got killed by the Mazoku, and there's nothing we could do!" With that, she sniffed and blew her nose into Xellos's cape, which she was still holding.

Sonjia looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Who has no respect for the dead here?" She finished healing herself and got up to stretch.

Gourry finally spoke up. "Hey, Sonjia, since you're a goddess and have healing magic and everything, maybe you could heal Lina and Zelgadis up a bit more. They got attacked by that Mazoku, too."

"Whatever," said Sonjia, beginning to wander away. "I'm not in the service of humanity, you know. It really bugs me how people say things like, 'Oh, you are a goddess, so you should be kind and heal some total invalid out of the goodness of you heart' and other such rubbish. I'm not going to follow people around and fix up every scrape and bruise just because I can. I've had enough of my abilities being exploited."

"But Lina's hurt really bad," Gourry retorted. "And she needs to be all healed up so she can fight that Mazoku so he can't hurt anyone else. Isn't that a good enough cause?"

"Why do you need her to do it? Why can't you just go and fight yourself?" Sonjia asked.

Lina rose unsteadily and slowly began walking towards Sonjia. Gourry tried to protest, but she silenced him. "There's strength in numbers," Lina explained. "Even though I'm confident in my companions' abilities, I want to put the odds as much in our favor as possible." She put a hand on Sonjia's shoulder. "And maybe this time, your power will come of some good for everyone."

Sonjia looked down and put her nose about an inch from Lina's and squinted at her. Lina fidgeted a little under the cat-like stare, but stood firm. Sonjia then unceremoniously brought her hand up and tapped Lina on the nose.

"There. You're healed. Now leave me alone." Lina fell over. "Don't go falling over like that, or you'll hurt yourself again."

Lina got up and rubbed her head. "You mean that's it?!" She flexed her arm, realizing that her body was indeed fully healed and functional again. "Then what was the big deal about it if that's all there was to it?"

Sonjia shook a finger. "It's the principle, silly. I healed you, so you are now obligated to shower me with praise and gifts."

"Why you!" shouted Lina, grabbing Sonjia by her blouse collar.

"Why are you so mad, Lina?" asked Gourry. "That's what you would have said if you were the one who healed someone like that."

Lina was about to yell at him about not asking for his opinion when Amelia interjected, "Sonjia-san! You healed Xellos-san!"

Lina let go of Sonjia's collar, and both she and Sonjia looked over to Amelia. "Uh, no I didn't…"

"Well, someone did something," said Amelia. "I just realized that while I was casting that Flow Break, I was still holding Xellos-san's cape. And didn't you say that if you were touching something that had that Magic Lock spell on it, you can't use magic?" Amelia cowered at the surprised looks she got. "Or did I mess that up again?"

Sonjia knelt down to have a look. "No, actually, you're right." She examined Xellos's cape and ran her hand along it. "Only this one corner is unaffected," she observed, pointing out the part that was rather soiled from its use as a makeshift handkerchief. "But that doesn't make any sense. The spell should directly affect whatever is in the area in which it is used."

"Maybe it's weak against dirt," said Gourry.

Lina was about to say something, but was interrupted by the ground blowing up.

"Well, looks like ol' bro' is back," said Sonjia, rolling her eyes. She looked up at Lina. "I healed you on the condition that you'd beat that jerk into the ground. Don't disappoint me, now."

Lina crossed her arms. "So what are you going to do, o great goddess?"

"First of all, I'm going to get to the bottom of why the spell keeps coming off." Sonjia motioned back to Xellos. "Xel here can be my guinea pig. He won't mind. That useful enough for you?"

"You know… you sicken me sometimes," said Lina, shaking her head. "If you figure out anything useful, don't be afraid to help out a little!" she called as she ran off to get the battle underway.

Sonjia glanced over at Zelgadis, who had stayed behind to continue healing himself. "If you wanna get on you knees and beg, I might be able to help you out there," she offered.

Zelgadis didn't even acknowledge the offer and simply stood up to walk back into town. He would rather heal himself in peace than have Sonjia berating him the entire time. He took one last look at Xellos's prone form and smirked, before walking back into one of the alleys.

"You know, a coroner for Mazoku is a job that seems to suit you well," he commented just before he disappeared into town.

Sonjia poked at Xellos with a stick. "Hmph. Yeah, whatever…"

* * *


	14. Resource! Victory is in Sight!

**Slayers: God's Blood pt. 14  
Resource! Victory is in Sight!**

* * *

Jadarin had been out of commission for quite a long time. Much longer than Lina expected from an injury from a lowly Elmekia Lance. She figured a guy who gave her this much trouble would at least have the decency to shrug off one of her more basic spells with a little more ease. But not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she was grateful for the moment to recover.

"Lina-san, what do you think we can do against him?" wondered Amelia. "He's got that shield that won't let us hit him, and he's got that spell that can end the fight in one shot!"

"It's gonna be tricky," replied Lina, rubbing her chin in thought. "This guy is all about strategy - hitting him in ways that he wouldn't think of. That spell of his has plenty of shortcomings, we just have to know the right ways to exploit them."

"You could throw a rock at him," suggested Gourry.

Lina sweatdropped. "If you wanna throw rocks at him, be my guest, Gourry. But I'm talking about REAL strategy here. Basically what we know is that he can't attack and defend magically at the same time. Meaning that if he tries to use a spell on us, his shield must be down."

"Ah," nodded Gourry, thinking it was a nifty thing to say, but completely missing the significance of this statement.

To clarify things, the ground blew up.

Lina lifted her face out of the dirt and coughed. "See, that means his shield is down," she explained groggily. "Which in turn means... Flare Arrow!" she shouted, rolling over and firing the spell into the sky.

Jadarin watched the spell nonchalantly as it evaporated on impact. "Four," he stated, holding up the expressed number of fingers. "You gave me four whole seconds to react to that. Honestly, I could have killed you ten times in that span of time."

"So why didn't you?" wondered Lina, getting up.

"You think that fireball just now was an attempt to make you healthier?" he questioned.

That wasn't exactly what she was wondering. She'd noticed that Jadarin really wasn't one to hold his trump card as a last resort. He very well could have killed them with Magic Lock, and much more discreetly than with a bulky fireball. But this didn't really look like a case of him not being willing to use it. It was more like he was unable to use it. But what could possibly be hampering his use of the spell now? Whatever the reason, it looked like the odds were more in their favor at this point.

Lina drew her dagger and motioned for the other two to close in around her. "It looks like we've got a chance of winning as long as he doesn't use Magic Lock offensively. But in any case, let's not let any more of his shots count."

* * *

Sonjia, in the meantime, was busy being very artistic with Xellos's hair, braiding in leaves and flowers. She stopped for a moment and thought, "You know, by touching Xellos, I bet it keeps anyone from casting Magic Lock." She shrugged and got back to her mindless tinkerings.

* * *

"He looks like he's just waiting for us to do something," observed Amelia, pointing at the Mazoku floating above them.

"So we'll make a move," said Lina, turning to Gourry. "Since he's in the air, he probably won't be expecting any physical attacks. Therefore, his shield is probably up."

"Ah," said Gourry, looking up at Jadarin and nodding blankly. "So, how're you going to get up there?"

"Physical attacks are your specialty," said Lina, winking and giving him the thumbs-up. "Go get 'im, Gourry! Raywing!"

Before Gourry had any time to object or question Lina's methodology, he was hurled into the air by a burst of levitation. "Waaaggghhhh! What are you trying to do, Linaaaaa?!" he wailed as he flew towards Lina's intended target.

Jadarin easily moved out of the way as Gourry went flying past, who eventually ended up crashing into the ground on his head.

"Okay, slight change in plans here," said Lina, scratching her head. "Amelia and I will get him from the air. Gourry, if we hit him with magic and he falls, hit him with the Sword of Light. If we hit him physically and he falls, hit him with your normal sword. Got that?"

"Uuuuhhhh…" was Gourry's response, still trying to shoo away all the stars flying around his head.

Lina and Amelia levitated up to face Jadarin face-to-face. Lina pulled out her dagger while Amelia readied a spell.

"My my, so this is your strategy? Pathetic!" he exclaimed. He put his arms behind his back and said, "Okay, here's the question you need to ask yourself: Is my shield up or down?" He hovered close to the two, and they honestly couldn't tell. He could use his wings to keep himself aloft whether he had the ability to use magic or not. At least, that's what Lina surmised.

Amelia on the other hand didn't even think and threw the spell she had been preparing at him. It evaporated on contact.

"Okay, his shield is up!" shouted Lina, rushing forward and plunging her dagger into his chest. Except it just phased through without leaving a mark.

"You know," said Jadarin, "I'm quite nimble with this shield. Take it down and put it up at a moment's notice." He pulled Lina's dagger out of his chest and hurled it away with tremendous force. "And now that neither of you have a physical weapon, what are you going to do, little girl?"

Lina raised her arm and chanted, "Lighting!" A brilliant flash of light erupted from her palm right in Jadarin's face. With that, she made her move in his momentary blindness.

Jadarin rubbed his eyes and re-adjusted his vision. "What a cheap shot! Blinding me to give yourself time to retreat? Of all the…" Wham.

Lina dropped down from above and gave him a solid kick to the back of the head. The next thing he knew, Jadarin's face was planted in the ground below. The first thing that came to mind was, "Now this seems familiar…"

* * *

Sonjia was still sitting with Xellos, putting the finishing touches on his flower necklace. She had to admit, she was having quite a bit of fun doing ridiculous things to the senseless Mazoku. Honestly, she was curious to figure out just what had caused the spell to lose effect, but she could always work on that later.

She reached to pull another flower, but at that moment, Lina's dagger came flying through the air and neatly embedded itself in her outstretched arm.

Sonjia blinked in surprise, her first thought being, "Where did that dagger come from?" But this thought was quickly replaced by another: "OOOOOWWWWW!!!!"

She gingerly pulled the dagger out of her arm, wincing at the pain. "Jeez, I'm not even part of the battle, and I still get beat up." She looked at her injured arm and sighed. "Why the heck do I always have to get injured only when I'm actually susceptible to injury in the first place?" She blew on her arm, which healed up completely within a second. In the end, no harm done, but she was still irritated that "someone" felt the need to involve her when she really didn't feel like putting forth the effort to comply.

After glancing at the dagger a moment longer, she shrugged and dabbed some of the blood off it with her finger, then proceeded to paint a little red smiley face on Xellos's cheek. True, it seemed kind of morbid in a way, but, hey, she was bored. A little red lipstick here, a little red eyeshadow there. It's not like anyone cared what she was doing.

"You know, if you were alive, you'd probably be getting a kick out of this," she said, dryly. Of course, there was no response. "But I think I've hung around here long enough. Lina can beat up my brother all she wants. Just as long as it keeps him from bothering me, I don't really care. Sorry you had to get your life force sucked away like, that, though. But there doesn't really seem to be anything I can do about it."

Xellos's mouth twitched in reply.

Sonjia blinked and cautiously reached out and poked his cheek. Xellos's lip twitched again on its own in response. "What the heck…?" Sonjia wondered out loud. She poked his face again. "You can feel that, can't you?" She scratched her head in confusion. "I'll be damned. He _is_ still alive."

* * *

Gourry swung his sword down, and Jadarin barely had time to move out of the way before his head got chopped off. Although he could quickly manipulate his shield as necessary, the Inverse group was using increasingly varied attacks, and sooner or later, he wouldn't be able to keep up with them anymore. If only the Magic Lock would work! Then he could have infinite advantage over them.

Of course, it never hurt to _check_. Jadarin snapped his fingers and smirked as he found that the spell was once again operational. He'd have to beat down Sonjia a bit for causing this fight to take so long. But at least now he wouldn't have to worry about Lina Inverse anymore.

Jadarin flicked the silver string down towards Lina's group. Its movements were erratic, like a thread caught by the wind. He had no way of controlling where the thread went, but they also had no way of dodging it.

Lina paused and motioned for her companions to stop what they were doing. "Guys, that spell of his is working again!" she warned.

Amelia looked around frantically. "Did he just use it? Where is it? I don't see anything!"

Lina shaded her eyes and looked into the air. A futile move, since there was really very little way of spotting the spell. It was like trying to locate a single specific piece of dust. It couldn't be noticed until it hit something.

Or until something hit it. Lina spread her palms to the air and shouted, "Diem Wing!" The wave of wind shot into the air, and Lina studied it carefully for any signs of disturbance. There! About ten feet above her was an obvious sign of turbulence. A straightline wind like that shouldn't normally change direction in the middle of its flow. Unless something there was drawing it in a different direction.

Lina quickly felt around in the recesses of her cape for something to use. The first thing she came across was a small knife, and wasted no time throwing it at the point of wind turbulence. A moment later, the knife came sailing down and stuck in the ground a few feet in front of her. Lina smiled in relief as she noted that the knife had now become colored silver. The spell had taken it as its victim rather than one of them, as she had hoped.

"Oh, just stop doing that already!" Jadarin growled in frustration. He snapped his fingers again and arced his arm around his head, producing a very long silver string. He then snapped the fingers on his other hand, producing a similar long string. He then manipulated the threads, weaving them together until he had a giant web of silver fibers.

"Let's see you dodge _this_ one!" he shouted, throwing the web down. It was a new trick, one which he'd never really tried before, so wasn't exactly sure what the effect would be.

It wasn't what he expected, and not quite what he wanted, but it was enough. The web formed a dome over Lina, Amelia, and Gourry's heads. It was like a giant, webbed shield that encircled them. And if they touched it at all, they would obviously die.

"Well," said Jadarin, "I may not have killed you with that, but my only goal was to keep you out of my business. And I suppose that will do."

"You haven't beaten us yet!" said Amelia through the dome. "We can just hit this web with something else, and it'll absorb the spell, just like Lina-san did with her knife!"

Jadarin motioned to the web. "Just how many strands do you think this is made of? Do you really thing you have enough random stuff to break down every single link in this web? And even if you do, it'll take you more time than I need to take full control of this spell. Once I do that, I can come back and finish killing you all."

Amelia sweatdropped. "So why doesn't he just do that right now and save himself the trouble?" Not that she was really complaining about his tactical choice. It gave them more time to devise an escape plan.

"It's because he can't," explained Lina. "This wall works both ways. We can't get at him, but he can't get at us."

"Quite observant, little girl," said Jadarin, pulling out his chopstick. "But as I said, I only wanted you to stop bothering me while I complete my business. But don't you feel much safer now? No magical attacks can hurt you while you're in there. Just like me with my shield up like this."

"Thanks for the info!" came a voice from behind him. Jadarin turned just in time to see Zelgadis come flying in, sword raised for attack. Jadarin dodged, but not quite quickly enough, as Zel's sword sliced through his side.

Jadarin roared and knocked Zelgadis aside. "Damn you! You had backup in hiding the whole time! Cheaters! The whole lot of you!" He raised his chopstick, ready to put up or drop his shield at a moment's notice, but was faced with a dilemma. Zelgadis held his sword in one hand, an Elmekia Lance in the other.

"Zelgadis-san! You really did come help us fight!" Amelia shouted. "I knew you'd come and aid us in a fight for Justice!"

"A little late, aren't we?" accused Lina. "Where the heck have you been?"

Zelgadis shot her a look. "I figured you three could handle him. But it looks like I was wrong."

"And I suppose you think you _can_ handle me?" said Jadarin. "I've beaten you before, stone boy. I'm interested to see what you think you can do."

* * *

Sonjia began piecing together all the times Magic Lock had lost effect on something. "Okay, there was my ribbon, Jadarin's chopstick, and Xellos's cape and face. What's the connection between those?" She tapped the dagger against her cheek, thinking. "Seems like I was injured every single time it happened. So, does that mean the spell's health is connected to my health?" She looked at Xellos. "I guess it's a possibility, but it doesn't explain why the spell lost effect on certain things, but not others."

She lazily flaked some drying blood off the dagger. "Yeah, I guess when I'm injured, I'm bleeding, too. But what would that have to do with anything?" She thought back to all the items that lost the spell. "Yeah, I think I got my blood on all of those. But why would that do anything?" She leaned backwards, but ended up hitting her head on the tree. "Oww…" she said, rubbing her head. She suddenly stopped, then smacked herself in the forehead, which did little to help with the pain. "Duh! I'm thinking like a human!"

Sonjia looked at the blood on the dagger. "It's not blood. Well, not really. It's more of my life force spilling out when I'm too injured to keep it in. And it just takes the appearance of blood. Yes!" she exclaimed, proud of herself for figuring something out. "I'd hate to quote that moron, but he was right. 'A drop of water will not dampen the river, but merely rejoin it.' And this," she said, looking at the blood on the dagger, "is the river."

There was a moment of silence, after which Sonjia dropped her head. "Which helps me _how_, exactly? So my blood can take the spell off stuff. It's not exactly something I can or am even remotely willing to just go giving out to everyone."

Sonjia got a malicious grin and picked up the dagger. "But I'll make an exception with you, guinea pig. If this works, you get a second chance at life. But if anyone asks, I didn't give it to you."

She gripped the bloodied dagger with both hands and held it over Xellos's chest. "My blood into your body. It should wipe away any trace of the spell once it spreads. There's probably more elegant ways of doing this, but you get what you get, Mazoku." She grinned and added, "And if you get diseased from Gods' blood, it serves you right."

Stabbing someone in hopes of healing them was definitely an odd idea, she thought, but didn't think much of it as she plunged the dagger into Xellos's chest.

Of all things, she didn't expect this action to hurt _her_. But sure enough, the moment she used the dagger with malicious intent, she suddenly lacked the energy to even hold herself up and fell over backwards. She blinked weakly in confusion for a few seconds before realizing what had just happened.

"Maybe I _should_ have thought this through a little better," she admitted to herself. Gods and Mazoku weren't supposed to use weapons, for the same reason they couldn't call power from other sources. They lived as self-contained beings, on the level of thought and emotion. If a God or Mazoku ever attempted using some power other than his own, it was like denying his own purpose. Therefore, their bodies didn't react too well to such things.

Sort of like Jadarin, who used nothing but others' powers. It was like he was reveling in defying his purpose. What an arrogant idiot.

Speaking of arrogant idiots, she sat up and checked on Xellos. Amazingly, the silver color was actually beginning to fade, which was a good sign. Unfortunately, he was showing no other signs of recovery. Sonjia hoped that she hadn't inadvertently killed him with the dagger. She sure didn't care if he did die, but she definitely didn't want his death to be _her_ fault.

"Come on, Xellos, wake up!" she found herself saying. She wanted to be right about one thing in her life, and hoped this would be it. Besides, bringing the dead back to life was something that neither God nor Mazoku had ever achieved. And this was the closest she could get to that accomplishment.

Sonjia gripped Xellos by the shoulders and shook him. "Wake up, Xellos. Wake up!" There was no response. Sonjia fell back and sighed. He'd probably been affected too long. The spell would have killed a human instantly, but Mazoku had their astral bodies to fall back on. But his astral body had probably become severely weakened from sensory deprivation. That meant that even though she got the spell off, this was like pulling a body from the ocean. They might be back in the air, but it was too late to ever breathe again. Yet another failure to go on the long, sad list of things gone wrong with this spell. Gods, this was the spell from hell.

She buried her face in her hand and shook her head. She clenched her teeth in anger, more at herself for being wrong again and being utterly helpless. Finally, frustrated beyond anything, she said one last time. "Xellos… wake up…" Still no response.

"Figures," she said, getting up and preparing to walk away and just leave the Mazoku there.

Xellos yawned in reply. "Just five more minutes, ma…" he finally said.

Sonjia stopped dead in her tracks. She whirled around, not knowing whether to hit him or hug him. She decided on a compromise and mentally patted herself on the back for the first and only victory against the Magic Lock. Plus the added bonus of one more thing to have bragging rights for. She looked up to see Xellos sitting up and scratching his head, and none the worse for wear.

Well, almost. "Um, do I dare ask what the heck is in my hair?" he ventured. He then looked down and noted Lina's dagger sticking out of his chest. "Did I do something to anger Lina-san again?" Sonjia laughed at how idiotic he looked. Such simpletons, Mazoku were.

Xellos was lost. He hated not knowing what was going on, as he was always in control of situations. But the entire ordeal concerning Jadarin was quite difficult to handle. Speaking of that lowly piece of trash, where was he, anyway? The last thing Xellos remembered was getting ready to attack him, then blacking out.

"You should be dead right now, you know," Sonjia explained to him. "You're lucky I decided to experiment on you."

Xellos had removed the dagger and was now busy pulling the flowers out of his hair, which was a complete mess. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just feel a little drained, like I haven't gotten a good dose of negative energy in a while."

"I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did. You either have a lot more power than you ever let on, or you're just darn lucky," observed Sonjia.

"It's not easy being me," said Xellos as his only explanation, regaining his usual grin.

Sonjia began wandering in the direction of the battle. "I'm getting dead sick of this spell. I'm gonna go out there, find that Mazoku, and give him a piece of my mind." She only hoped that the piece of her mind she ended up giving him was not the piece that contained the Magic Lock. Honestly, it was all idle threats, but he'd really ticked her off.

Xellos trotted after her. "Ah, I could use a snack. Mind if I tag along to witness this little 'cat fight'?"

The next thing he knew, Xellos was punted into the stratosphere. "If this is the thanks I get for clearing that spell out of your system, you can forget ever showing your face in front of me again!" Sonjia shouted after him as she watched him sail away through the air. With a huff, she turned back and stalked towards the battle.

* * *

Zelgadis wasn't faring very well. Jadarin just moved too quickly. Zel had only been able to get two shots to hit in the past ten minutes, and both had been absorbed. Plus, he had to worry about being thrown into the webbed shield whenever Jadarin countered.

Lina was shouting commands at him through the shield. Of course, this did little to help, as Jadarin heard the commands clearly as well, and could easily dodge Zelgadis's moves. Even when Zelgadis used his own techniques, Jadarin still dodged them with ease, as his movements were far too easy to read.

"What are you aiming at?" Jadarin taunted. "You'll never hit anything like that!" This was actually quite a useful strategy, as the taunts only made Zelgadis angrier, which decreased his accuracy even more.

"Ah, the sweet taste of anger. Such a delicacy." Xellos appeared hovering overhead, wearing a little bib. "Please continue, gentlemen. It's getting rather interesting."

"Xellos-san!" Amelia shouted, happily. "You're not dead anymore!"

Jadarin craned his neck to the sky at the sound of the familiar voice, surprised at his rival's sudden appearance. "How did you get here? I killed you, there was no question of it!"

"I wouldn't mind taking a time out to allow you to try again," Zelgadis said dryly.

"Zelgadis-san, must you always be so cruel?" said Xellos. "I'm just here to observe, and you decide to pick on me again."

"Xellos!" Lina shouted to him. "Don't just float there! Help out a little! He's your enemy too, right?"

Xellos stretched and made no move to do anything. "I would, but I don't feel up to it right now. You two can continue your business. Pretend I'm not here."

"You shouldn't be here!" Sonjia shouted from a distance. "Didn't I tell you to go away?"

"I did go away!" Xellos called back to her. "You just happened to show up in the same place I decided to go."

Sonjia fumed and stalked up to Jadarin. "And as for you… Just stop this, okay? Stop. Right now. Halt. Desist. Discontinue. Got that?"

Jadarin smirked. "Just who I wanted to see! Are you ready to hand over the spell?"

Sonjia grabbed him by the neck and yanked his face down right in front of hers. "Are you even listening to a word I'm saying? KNOCK IT OFF!!"

"My, how violent of you," said Jadarin, oblivious to her anger. "And I thought you said you would never use your powers for destructive purposes."

"Yeah?" Sonjia countered. "Well, maybe I'm not… but I'm willing to bet they are," she said, motioning to Lina's group, most of which was still trapped behind the shield. She stepped back, walking backwards until her back was right on the edge of the shield. "Come and get me," she challenged, backing up some more. Her body phased right through the web, as if she was passing through strands of water. It shimmered as she walked right through it, then reformed once she reached the other side.

However, the added area of her body, plus the wings, made the inside of the shield quite cramped, leaving Lina, Amelia, and Gourry little room to move without touching it. Before anyone could ask what the heck she was doing, Sonjia grabbed one of the lower threads and lifted it up, consequently lifting up an entire side of the shield.

"There you go, guys," she said as she herded the three out. "Have a blast beating the stuffing out of him."

"Whoa, wait a sec!" said Lina, just as Sonjia dropped the web back into place. "Aren't you going to help?"

Sonjia just sat down behind the shield and pulled out a cup of tea. "Nope," she stated flatly. "If I helped out any more, people might start mistaking me for a helpful goddess, which I'm not."

"Yeah. I can see that," said Lina as she turned away to join the others.

Of course, this simply put her in the same position she was in earlier. There was no way of knowing whether Jadarin's shield was up or down, and considering that state could change at any second, it really didn't matter. It was impossible to know what to hit him with.

Even so, Lina and Amelia flanked him on the left and right, while Gourry stood in front of him, Zelgadis behind. Two powerful swordsmen and two powerful sorceresses. But all the power in the world doesn't really mean that much if you don't know when and where to use it.

Xellos, in the meantime, was still floating overhead. He had a bag of popcorn in one hand, a little pennant with a super-deformed Lina head in the other. Being mostly dead for a while obviously hadn't left any lasting marks.

Zel made the first move. He swung his sword at Jadarin's back, but the blade passed straight through. A second later, Amelia fired a Flare Arrow at him, but his shield was already up. Gourry stayed put, unsure whether to use his regular sword or his Sword of Light.

Zelgadis and Amelia continued their respective attacks, but the shield changed states far too quickly for them to do any damage. Zelgadis alternated between his sword and magic, but it was no use. This guy was good at reading moves.

Gourry, on the other hand, was still trying to figure out which sword to use.

Lina hadn't joined the fight just yet, but was still contemplating to herself. "Well, since he doesn't have Sonjia, that means that means I've still got an extra card to play. But..." She glanced over at the aforementioned goddess, who was still lounging nonchalantly behind the shield. "If it has a chance of working, I'll give it a shot, anyway," she said, running a hand through her hair.

Meanwhile, the others were still fighting. "Let's even the odds a little, then!" shouted Amelia. "Dark Mist!" A cloud of black fog descended upon them, preventing anyone from seeing anything. Including Zelgadis and Gourry.

"Amelia!" Zel shouted. "What did you do that for? Now we can't see him!"

"Um, but he can't see us either, right?" said Amelia, trying to explain herself.

There was a chuckle through the fog. "Nice try. But I'm afraid you've forgotten one important thing: Cats can see in the dark. Besides, with my shield up, I can see through it no matter what. If anything, you've just set the odds in _my_ favor!"

"Oops," was all Amelia had to say for that little mistake. She decided to make a run for it. She levitated above the fog to see if she could get a better look at things. Zelgadis did the same.

Gourry, who couldn't fly, decided on the Sword of Light to help him see. As soon as it lit, he saw Jadarin standing in front of him with a look that said, "Hello. I'm going to kill you now" plastered across his face.

Gourry decided that the logical thing to do would be to slice the Mazoku in half. So he did. Or at least tried to, but the sword had no effect.

"Go away," Jadarin said simply, grabbing the Sword of Light by the blade and yanking it from Gourry's hands. He then knocked Gourry across the head with the hilt, knocking him out. "This is getting a little dull." He looked up through the mist and saw Zelgadis and Amelia hovering overhead. Time to take those two out too.

Amelia looked down through the mist. "Ne, Zelgadis-san, do you see anything?" He was about to reply that he couldn't see a thing, when a pair of fireballs shot up from the ground, one at him, one at Amelia. They didn't see them in time and got caught in the fire, both losing their levitation spells and crashing to the ground.

"Now that just leaves the Inverse girl," said Jadarin. "Come out of hiding, little girl!" he commanded. "If you don't, I'll kill these three right here."

"Then you give me no choice," came Lina's voice through the mist. "I certainly don't want to see anyone else die because of you. Especially not my friends."

Jadarin smirked. "If that's the case, what do you intend to do about it? If you couldn't defeat me as a group, how could you possibly defeat me by yourself?"

"Because I've figured out why we can't beat you," Lina explained. "You don't fight fair. Someone who bends the rules in his favor always has the upper hand. So to remedy this, I decided that we might as well just change the rules to make it fair for everyone."

Jadarin lowered his head and peered at her figure through the mist. "Change them? What do you plan to do?"

Lina stepped casually out of the mist and smirked confidently at him. "That spell of yours. The Magic Lock. You can use it to your heart's content, but you yourself are not immune to its effects like Sonjia is. Am I right? As long as you do not hold control of the spell, it will work on you."

Sonjia looked up from her mulling about. Just what was Lina getting at? Yeah, what she was saying was probably true, but what good did this do her in the end?

Unless...

"You know, really great sorcerers can learn how a spell is cast just by observing it once. Of course, since I am Lina Inverse, the beautiful sorcery genius," she said, slowly raising her hand over her head, "this applies to me as well."

Sonjia slammed her hands into the dirt and stared incredulously out of the dome. "She didn't...!"

Lina snapped her fingers and lowered her hand, displaying the strand dangling from her fingertips. "I'd say this evens things up quite a bit."

"That's not...!" Jadarin exclaimed, backing away slightly. "No one else must know this spell! You can't be allowed to know it!"

"Then you shouldn't use it so much," Lina retorted. "It doesn't feel too good to be staring at it on the receiving end, does it?"

Sonjia clutched the dirt harshly between her fingers, observing this face-off from afar. "How could you, Lina? I thought I had you pegged as being a different kind of person! But you just want to make me wrong about something else. Just like everyone else in this pathetic world." She lowered her head, shoulders shaking. She hated stepping out to resolve things herself, but this was becoming more than she could bear. She'd have to teleport out there before Lina did something stupid.

If she could teleport. Sonjia looked up and blinked, noting that she couldn't use her magic. The field that the webbed dome created must have disabled it at this close range. But, if she couldn't use magic, didn't that mean...?

Lina blew the strand from her hand, letting it float through the air. "Nice knowing you, Jadarin, but it looks like I'll have to end this the simple way, just like you've been trying to do."

"You idiot!" he shouted at her, glancing around himself frantically. "You can't control where that thing goes! You're just as likely to hit one of your friends back there as you are me!"

"I'm willing to take that chance to end this here and now," Lina explained.

This was not a good feeling. Jadarin never expected himself to be on the receiving end of his own spell, but now the tables were turned, and he had nowhere to run. He attempted to teleport away, but the battle had drained too much of his energy for him to do so.

It was at this point that he became aware of another rather uncomfortable feeling. Sort of like a sharp pain in his side. He looked down and noticed the end of a knife protruding from his stomach. But his shield had been down to allow him to attempt teleportation. A physical attack like that shouldn't have worked on him!

"Good thing I picked a knife to counter your spell with earlier," Lina explained, walking up to him. "Since that knife got your spell on it, it'll put the shield up around you whether you want it or not. Which will then make you vulnerable to physical attacks."

Jadarin clutched the knife's handle and winced. "Good for you, but you do realize that by walking over here, you've become a target for your own attack."

As he said that, a strand blown by the wind floated over Lina's head. She shrugged and plucked it out of the air. "What, you mean this? This is an extremely useful technique right here. I call it 'Summon Distraction'."

Jadarin peered at it more closely. "Wait that's just a... strand of your hair!" Angered at her trickery, Jadarin growled and yanked the knife out of his side and tossed it to the ground.

But Lina already had her hand on his chest. "And now that you've gotten rid of that knife, your shield is very much down. Meaning magic will work on you."

"Not quite!" said Jadarin, reaching for his chopstick.

Too late. "Bom Di Wind!" Lina chanted, blasting him away with incredible force with the strongest wind spell in Shamanist magic.

Jadarin blinked as he sailed through the air. Wind? Wind wouldn't do anything lasting against him. Granted, if she'd used a more damaging element, he could have put up his shield within a second and only take a small brunt of the spell. But with the wind spell, even with his shield up, he still had a pesky thing called momentum to deal with. A little momentum never hurt anyone.

"Ack!" Ack? Jadarin twisted his head in the direction he was being propelled, and noted that it was Sonjia who had "ack"ed. He was being thrown right at her.

She was still behind the shield.

The Magic Lock shield.

Which he was being thrown towards.

And couldn't stop.

Crap.

He crashed right through the shield and, consequently, right on top on Sonjia. There wasn't anything to be done now. The shield collapsed and completely wove into his body, changing his dusky brown exterior to silver. As the dust cleared, there was silence.

And then, "LIIINAAAA!!" Sonjia poked her head out from under Jadarin's prone form and sighed. "What the heck did I ever do to deserve this?"

Xellos hung in the air, heartily applauding Lina's victory. "Well done, well done!" he congratulated. "An excellent use of your resources, Lina-san!"

Lina floated beside him and called down to Sonjia. "Come on, you know I'd never use that spell myself! But it's the only thing I could think of that would beat him! At least the one he got beaten by he cast himself! So, you could say he was a victim of his own ambitions."

"Well that's just great!" yelled Sonjia, trying to pull herself out from under Jadarin's somewhat weighty body. "Now if you don't mind, I could use a little help here!"

Lina crossed her arms and looked down. "If I helped you any more, people might mistake me for a helpful sorceress, which I'm not," she reasoned.

And, for once, Sonjia had absolutely nothing to reply to that with.

* * *

Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis had revived, and Sonjia had finally gotten herself out from under Jadarin, whom she had laid out on the ground.

"I'm not really sure what he was trying to do," she admitted. "He told me he was trying to show the world what a terrible spell the Magic Lock was, but I think that was just an excuse to hide some other reasoning."

Lina waved her off. "Yeah, you can ask him all about that later."

"Ask him?" Sonjia said, blinking.

Lina looked and Jadarin's body and shrugged, smiling. "It's just that I don't think he really wanted to hurt anyone to begin with. It's just that whatever was driving him to do this overrode that feeling. Hopefully being incapacitated for a while will help him come to his senses."

"Are you saying I should take the spell off him?" Sonjia asked, bewildered. "He'd just come back and try to use the spell again! That's too dangerous!"

"Somehow, I don't think so. Now that he's experienced his spell first hand, he probably won't have the desire to ever use it again," Lina admitted. "And once I saw Xellos miraculously returned from the grave, which I'm sure was your doing, I thought that a good Magic Locking wouldn't hurt the guy too much."

"And if he used to be a God, I'm sure the fire of Justice is still burning somewhere in his heart!" Amelia added.

Sonjia smacked her forehead. "After all that he's done to you, you're suddenly standing up for him? What kind of people are you?!"

"Simple!" said Lina, standing proudly. "We're humans."

"Well, I'm not!" Sonjia retorted. "And this guy here started acting like one, and look what became of him!"

"At least he was open to new ideas," Lina muttered.

"Being human's not bad," said Gourry. "I like being a human. And even though you're a God, you sometimes look human. And you get angry like Lina does, and she's human."

Amelia clenched her fists. "Gourry-san is right! Sonjia-san, you shouldn't think something's bad just because a human thinks it's good!"

Sonjia looked at them flatly. "So, you're saying that after all that, you want me to re-release his vengeance upon the world, just because."

"Actually, I'm saying that just for once, you should look at someone else's point of view," Lina corrected. "It's not as bad as you might think."

"You should practice what you preach, Lina," said Zelgadis, dryly.

"Oh, hush."

Sonjia lowered her head. "It's not because I think he'll get better. It's because he's my older brother. And no one should die because of this spell. Plus I've still got a few other things to ask him anyway. Only because of THAT will I remove the spell."

Lina grumbled. "But of course, she _has_ to disagree with _some_ part of the suggestion."

"But not here," Sonjia continued. "When he wakes up, he's not going to be anywhere where he can cause any damage."

"What kind of place would that be?" asked Amelia.

Sonjia looked to the sky. "The world we came from. My sister said that there was nothing there anymore. But our being here has only caused chaos on this world. If anything, hopefully at least one thing will be set right by going there."

"And how will you get there?" Lina wondered.

"Dunno. But if we got here in the first place, there must be some way to get back," she said, slinging Jadarin's arm over her shoulder. "Besides, if I go there, I won't have to hear the name Lina Inverse ever again." With that, she began to walk off, Jadarin in tow.

Lina waved half-heartedly, mouth twitching. "Nice knowing you, too."

Sonjia paused momentarily and looked back at Lina. "By the way... Even though your use of Magic Lock was a trick, was what you said about learning it also false?"

Lina put her arms behind her head and smiled. "Who knows?"

Sonjia regarded her dubiously for a moment before realizing that she wasn't going to get a better answer than that. Sighing at the Inverse girl's warped personality, she turned again and walked off.

"So I guess that's that," said Amelia. "That was one weird mess we got into."

Lina stretched her arms over her head and yawned. "Yeah, who would've guessed that one spell could cause so much trouble?"

Zelgadis turned his back on the departing figures, just a speck on the horizon now. "Hmph. I still don't believe a word of what she said. I for one am glad she's gone."

Amelia nodded. "You must've really doubted her abilities, Zelgadis-san. I'm surprised."

Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well," said Amelia, "she's a five thousand year-old goddess who specializes in healing, and you never even once asked her to use her abilities to try and turn you from a chimera into a normal human." She nodded again. "You must've really doubted her."

Of all the treachery, deceit, and other such happenings that Zelgadis was sure that Sonjia could have brought about…

…That one had never crossed his mind.

And so, a rather frustrated scream could be heard for miles around.

Lina, completely oblivious to this, decided on a more important course of action. "All this battling has really worked up an appetite. And now that that Mazoku isn't around anymore to mess up my dinner plans, let's find someplace to eat!"

And so Lina did finally get to eat an uninterrupted meal. And there was much rejoicing.

* * *

Meanwhile, Xellos sat in a tree, pondering why everyone insisted that he had been dead for a while. He sure didn't remember anything to that extent. But he also had no memory of how the flowers got into his hair, or Lina's dagger into his chest, for that matter. Maybe Lina just got really mad at him.

"Oh, no matter," he said, dismissing it. "Might as well go find out what Lina-san and the others are up to now," he decided, snapping his fingers.

He paused a moment before jumping out of the tree. Looking at his hand, he noticed that he had somehow produced a tiny silver thread. It promptly vanished after a few seconds, having just enough spark to light it, but not enough to keep it going very long.

Xellos squinted and looked his hand over. "Hm, wonder what that was?" he said casually. He shrugged and jumped down from the tree, focusing his attention back on meeting up with Lina for whatever strange adventure happened to be coming next.

* * *

* * *

Woo, the end. Now I guess I've got room for the fabled "Author's Notes". I would have interspersed them throughout the beginnings of the chapters, but then I decided that they would clutter up the story and interrupt it too much. So, here they are at the end instead.

This story is, in fact, a massive re-write of the original "Gods' Blood", which was originally finished in June of 1999. The ideal surrounding that original fic was simple: To write a Slayers fic that followed the feel of the actual TV series. I mean, come on, I love Slayers. Who am I to change it to any great extent? I wanted to leave the characters and themes the way they were that made me grow attached to them in the first place.

So, what's the difference between this re-write and the original, you ask? Well, not a whole lot, actually. Mostly just changing wordings and descriptions here and there, plus the addition of extra jokes. The story flows more or less the same, though. Although, notably, the ending was somewhat altered.

The main reason for the re-write was Sonjia, so you can blame her. I didn't have her personality really nailed down until about three-quarters of the way through the fic originally. So, when going back over it, she just seemed too darn nice (comparatively) at the beginning. Plus, in the original, she actually honestly apologized to Lina on a couple of occasions, which is unforgivable :P. Therefore, she was re-written to be quite a bit more extreme with her superiority complex (I never said I wrote her to be a _likable_ character ^_^*).

Jadarin was left mostly intact from the original, although his motivations were slightly altered to match what happens in the second story arc.

Second story arc?

Yes, believe it or not, there's more to this story. There are a couple of minor loose ends that were left on purpose so they could be developed further in the continuation. I mean, if this is Slayers, it's gotta be 26 parts, right?

Unfortunately, I only have about a third of the second story arc written at this point. And if I have a set number of parts I want to fill, I'll have to wait until I finish the whole thing before I post it, so I know how to divide it up. Thankfully, my summer break starts tomorrow, and I'll (hopefully) have lots of time to work on it. Whether or not I ever get the motivation to is another matter...

At the moment, the FF.net-esque summary for part 2 stands as follows:

"Lina beat the bad guy, but the world gets screwed over anyway. Too bad no one noticed. Lina is thrilled to learn that she's the only one who can save reality from going ker-splat, and must go a-questing to do so, along with her most favorite people in the world. Thus the God spaketh: 'This sucks.'"

That is all for now. ::bows::

This story was brought to you by a bunch of 0's and 1's.

* * *


End file.
